The Tsai Family of Taiwan 

 雖然個性謙沖的蔡牧起、薛綺蓮夫婦，一再拒絕媒體記者冠予的﹁台灣賞鳥紀錄保持人﹂封號，但這次台灣生態外交首航記中同行的蔡氏夫婦連同兒子蔡若詩，絕對是台灣第一瘋狂飆鳥家族。台灣擁有五百種左右的野鳥，而蔡氏夫婦的賞鳥紀錄在二○○八年二月底時，已經直逼四千四百種，二十多年來他們出國飆鳥多達五十一趟，而且還不斷累積增加中。

 

Although Mr. Mu-chi Tsai & Ms. Chi-lian Hsueh don’t think they are the media-named “Record-keeping Bird Watcher in Taiwan,” they and their son, Jo-Szu Tsai, members of the first-ever ecological diplomatic mission to St. Lucia, are definitely the No. 1 bird watching family in Taiwan. Far beyond the 500 species of birds that have been recorded in Taiwan, their bird watching list is more than 4, 400 by the end of February 2008.  This family has taken over 51 trips abroad for bird watching in the past 20 years and their list keeps growing.

 

蔡牧起今年六十四歲，夫人薛綺蓮六十三歲，兩人是台大園藝系的同學，蔡牧起原本在南投縣仁愛鄉台大梅峰農場擔任副場長，薛綺蓮則在南投縣仁愛鄉霧社仁愛高農教園藝課程，兩人大約從一九八五年開始賞鳥，兒子蔡若詩當年只有九歲，而當時台北市野鳥學會已經成立，賞鳥風氣在台灣剛剛萌芽，而中部地區則只有台灣省野鳥學會設立，蔡牧起夫婦開始賞鳥，也創立了南投縣野鳥學會。

 

Mr. Tsai, 64 years old, and his wife, Mrs. Hsueh, 63 years old, were classmates in college in the Department of Horticulture at the National Taiwan University (NTU). After graduation, Mr. Tsai worked as the executive Head of Meifeng Highland Farm of NTU located in Nantou County, while Mrs. Hsueh was a high school teacher specializing in horticulture in Wushe, Nantou County. They started bird watching in 1985 when their son Jo-Szu Tsai was only 9 years old. At that time, the Wild Bird Society of Taipei was already established and bird watching had begun to gain popularity in Taiwan. However, in central Taiwan, the Wild Bird Society of Taiwan was the only society for birders based in Taichung. Once Mr. Tsai and Mrs. Hsueh got more involved in the world of bird watching, they established another society for birders in Nantou region—Wild Bird Society of Nantou.

    

蔡牧起、薛綺蓮夫婦說，當年他們夫妻兩人落腳在南投縣工作，因為兩人工作地點包括梅峰農場和霧社地區平時鳥況就相當豐富，他們常看見野鳥在窗外飛來飛去，在沒有人指點的情形下，竟然看出興趣來。

 

The places where each of them worked in Nantou County were rich in bird diversity. They had many chances to expose themselves to nature and observe birds near by. Gradually they fell in love with birds and taught themselves about birds and bird watching.

 

　包括英國、美國、加拿大、西班牙、荷蘭、日本等先進國家，飆鳥族相當盛行，台灣也有許多鳥友，但像蔡牧起一家三口這樣子不眠不休狂飆賞鳥紀錄者卻不多，蔡牧起一家三口最記得的是，當年蔡若詩不過九歲，大概就讀國小三年級，每週六中午他們夫妻兩人還沒等到學校下課，已經開車到校門口等蔡若詩，放學鈴聲一響，一家人便飛車奔往郊外賞鳥。

Ardent birders (people who are serious bird watchers) are everywhere: Britain, United States, Canada, Spain, Netherlands, Japan, and many other developed countries.  There are a lot of birders in Taiwan as well; however, not many families that are as fascinated by bird watching as Mr. Tsai’s family is. Mr. Tsai recalled an event to illustrate how passionate the family was about bird watching. At the time, Jo-Szu was in the 3rd grade and every Saturday noon, Mr. Tsai and Mrs. Hsueh would wait for their son outside the school even before school was dismissed. So when school was over, they could go right away and start bird watching.

 

　蔡綺蓮說，剛開始他們利用假日前往較遠的地方賞鳥，例如到彰化縣的大肚溪口或全興工業區看岸鳥，後來則在台灣全島各地跑，若詩在就讀國小和國中那幾年，大部分週日的學校作業，都是在台灣各地的旅館內做的功課，一家人清晨賞鳥，傍晚賞鳥，有時夜間也賞鳥，她就在旅館內抽空指導兒子做功課。

 

Mrs. Hsueh told us that during holidays and vacations, they started birding in areas close to their home, such as Dadu estuary and Chuansing Industrial Park in Changhua County, then extending their interest to birding hotspots all over Taiwan. During these years while Jo-Szu was still in elementary school, the family spent most of their holidays birding, from dawn to dusk, so he always completed his homework in whichever hotel they stayed in. His mother would help him if he had any questions about homework.

 

　幾年後蔡牧起一家人開始往國外跑，幾乎所有旅遊的主要目的都是為了賞鳥，他們並開始進行野鳥觀察記錄，而截至二○○八年二月底為止，兩人共同觀察記錄的鳥種已接近四千四百種，而蔡若詩雖然今年只有三十三歲，但已觀賞記錄的鳥種，也有★種左右，相當不容易。

 

Years later, they expanded their territory to other countries, of course exclusively for birding.  They kept track of their bird watching list at that time as well.  By the end of February 2008, Mr. Tsai and Mrs. Hsueh have about 4, 400 species on their list.  Even Jo-Szu Tsai, only 33 years old, has a record of 1,860, which is very impressive.

　

     蔡牧起不願意承認自己是台灣賞鳥紀錄保持人，他說，國內還有幾位頂尖的飆鳥族，例如蕭木吉、方偉宏、曾國藩等人，他並不知道別人的賞鳥記錄數量是多少，怎敢妄自聲稱自己是台灣賞鳥數量冠軍？

 

Mu-Chi Tsai doesn’t think he is the bird watching record holder in Taiwan. He said there are several other topnotch birders in Taiwan. He doesn’t even know what they have seen. How could he claim he is the one?

 

　蔡牧起夫婦十多年前就退休了，而退休後有更多的時間到世界各地賞鳥，根據兩人的統計，他們從二十多年前第一次到香港賞鳥以來，至今到國外賞鳥已有五十一趟，所到過的國家一時也數不清。

 

Mr. Tsai and Mrs. Hsueh have been retired for more than 10 years, which allows them to bird abroad more.  According to them, they have had about 51 birding trips abroad since the first trip to Hong Kong 20 years ago, and have not kept records exactly for how many countries they have visited.

 

　蔡牧起夫婦為了賞鳥，足跡遍佈世界各地，亞洲地區就有日本、中國、香港、泰國、印尼蘇拉維西、新幾內亞、婆羅洲、馬來西亞、爪哇、菲律賓、斯里蘭卡、印度、越南、帛琉；非洲有肯亞、奈米比亞、南非、馬達加斯加；美洲有加拿大、美國、巴拿馬、哥斯大黎加、厄瓜多爾、秘魯、巴西、聖露西亞、聖文生；歐洲有荷蘭；澳洲有澳洲及紐西蘭 (澳洲不是个洲吧，应该是大洋洲吧，无语了我)。

 

The countries or regions they have been to (but are not limited to) include: Asia—Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia (Java and Sulawesi), Papua New Guinea, Malaysia (and Borneo), Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, and Palau; Africa—Kenya, Namibia, Republic of South Africa, and Madagascar; North and South America: Canada, the United States of America, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent; Europe—the Netherlands; Oceania—Australia and New Zealand.

 

為了賞鳥，蔡牧起夫婦不僅跑遍世界數十個國家，而且賞鳥過程中的艱辛，若非親身經歷，也很難體會，薛綺蓮印象最深刻的一次是在巴拿馬賞鳥時，為了進入該國的雨林內，他們在抵達巴拿馬後，由鳥導帶領搭乘小飛機上山，而雨林中不僅全天雨下個不停，而且跟本沒有路可走，她雖穿上雨衣雨鞋再拿著拐杖前行，不僅一身的泥濘，回程下山時根本是連滾帶爬，沿途也不知道摔過多少次跤。

 

The birding trips are more than just traveling to different countries.  They had some tough experiences that are hard to imagine.  Mrs. Hsueh still remembers the trip to Panama. They took a small plane to Darien National Park and hiked to the Pierre Mountain. In the tropical rain forest, it was raining all the time and it became very hard to walk. Even with a raincoat, boots, and a walking stick, she still got the mud all over herself. On their way back, she had to use her hands to keep from falling down, and she couldn’t even really remember how many falls she had had.

 

另外，熱帶雨林中的沙蚤，雖然看不見，卻能讓人全身長水泡，奇癢無比，而這些對於多次進出南美洲及非洲雨林的蔡牧起夫婦而言，早已變成家常便飯，因為只要能觀賞到心目中的野鳥，再怎麼辛苦也值得

 

Moreover, they also have had to deal with chiggers; a tiny arthropod that lives in tropical and subtropical vegetation. If, unfortunately they got some chigger bites, they have to endure the blisters (swollen because of inflammation) and the incredible itchiness comes with that. However, that didn’t stop them because the rewards from finding unique species and adding new birds to their list really outweigh the difficulties they have through on these trips.

 

　全球野鳥種類，估計約有九千九百種，其中數百種只聞其名，真正能觀賞到的野鳥，頂多是九千出頭，目前已知全球賞鳥紀錄保持人是一位住在西班牙的英國富豪，他是位七、八十歲的老紳士，看過的鳥種多達八千四百種，第二、三名的飆鳥族，已觀察的鳥種分別是八千一百種及八千種左右，而台灣的賞鳥風氣，從二、三十年前才開始慢慢盛行，一般鳥友的賞鳥種類要突破一千種已經不容易，台灣許多頂尖的鳥友，紀錄都在二千五百種左右，蔡牧起夫婦的賞鳥紀錄能多達四千多種，相當不容易。

 

There are around 9,900 bird species in the world and hundreds of them are just too rare to see. Currently, the No.1 birder is a British gentleman who is in his 70s and lives in Spain.  He has a record of 8,400 species. The second and third top birders have records of 8,100 and 8,000, respectively.  In Taiwan, birding just started being popular about 20 -30 years ago so most of the birders have records around 1,000, which is already considered pretty high.  Only a few top ones have records more than 2,500 species.  Thus Mr. Tsai and Mrs. Hsueh’s record of 4,400 is definitely more than impressive.

 

這次台灣生態外交團前往聖露西亞，有了台灣鳥界首屈一指的蔡牧起夫婦助陣，無論是賞鳥、追尋鳥蹤的野外經驗、或者是對加勒比海地區鳥種的辨識，都有相當大的幫助，而蔡牧起夫婦對生態和野鳥的熱愛，更是令人欽敬不已。

 

As the topnotch birders in Taiwan, Mr. Tsai and Mrs. Hsueh certainly contributed greatly in this ecological diplomatic mission in various aspects, including identification of birds in the Caribbean. Their love of nature and birds are admirable.