Birds

Birding Tan Phu Forest, Vietnam (Half 2)

On this second publish on the birds of Tan Phu Forest, let’s get the bulbuls out of the best way first. Three appear to be significantly widespread right here.

The Ochraceous Bulbul appears just like the Puff-throated Bulbul, with which it shares a genus – the similarity made one in all my journey companions doubt the entire framework of species distinctions.

 

Even for a bulbul, it’s a “cumbersome, very noisy, conspicuous” hen (HBW).

The HBW additionally signifies that these bulbuls might be hooligans: “Associates in unfastened noisy events of 4–8 people … typically aggressively displaces smaller bulbuls”.

Presumably this contains the Gray-eyed Bulbul, a a lot lighter hen additionally typically seen at Tan Phu.

 

Not a very progressive hen – in line with one paper primarily taking a look at molt,  solely feminine Gray-eyed Bulbuls construct the nest and incubate, whereas the males do typical male issues equivalent to bringing meals and defending the nest.

This conventional life-style matches properly with its unexciting species title of propinqua, that means one thing like “associated, related, neighboring” – the sort of title unimaginative scientists give to a brand new species that appears too boring to benefit naming it after some well-known ornithologist or wealthy sponsor.

The molt of the Stripe-throated Bulbul is the topic of one other paper.

Apparently, the molt of the males takes about 20 days longer than that of the females – the authors speculate that that is due to the totally different peak time efforts in breeding, with the males being concerned earlier (singing, establishing territory) than the females (incubating, nestling care).

 

The Streak-eared Bulbul isn’t a favourite of the influential eBird crowd: a “uninteresting brown bulbul”, not precisely a ringing endorsement. The HBW appears to agree, remarking that the species “has pretty nondescript olive-brown plumage”.

That would definitely make for bitter studying for Capt. Paul Conrad (1836-1885), a German naturalist within the East Indies, after which the species is known as (Pycnonotus conradi).

However he could be delighted find a paper concerning the totally different vocalizations of two geographically distinct populations of the bulbul – though many of the paper (aside from the summary) is written in Thai and thus lovely to have a look at however reasonably unintelligible to most of us.

There appears to be nearly no info on Paul Conrad besides that he used his life to get from Leonberg (the place he was born) to Bremen (the place he died). “You reside your complete life simply to journey to the place you?re gonna die” (Craig Finn, “Blankets”).

The Higher Coucal spends most of its life feeling superior to the Lesser Coucal.

Nonetheless, this affords no safety in opposition to superstition. Higher Coucal physique elements are used as conventional drugs by the Malays in Kuok Village in Indonesia (supply). Conventional knowledge generally is massively overrated.

Then once more, smaller birds would possibly consider this superstition when studying a paper on a Higher Coucal feeding on a Widespread Myna.

An summary of a scientific paper reads as follows (unabridged): “Exterior examination of free vary deserted useless Higher Coucal in a veterinary dispensary, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India revealed presence of a giant sized louse within the feathers and was recognized as Laemobothrion most on the premise of morphology and measurement of the louse.” Nonetheless, if you wish to learn the entire article, the pdf file prices 40 Euros. I’m questioning what extra info may probably be in there. Possibly some background on the colour of the veterinary dispensary, or the birthdays of the authors.

Equally, a narrative titled “Name of the Higher Coucal” revealed by Middlebury School Publications can also be inaccessible to me, so I can not touch upon its literary or ornithological benefit. It begins with the sentence “Noomi wakes up early on Sunday morning as a result of her proper ear hurts with a uninteresting, common pulse.” Unsure if and when the coucal reveals up within the story.

One in all my cats – when approached by me – sometimes reveals one of many two following reactions – licking me or (play-)biting. Crimson Jungle Fowl spend their lively time additionally nearly solely on two issues, particularly floor pecking (60%) and floor scratching (34%) (supply).

These Crimson Jungle Fowl lower than scratch are weeded out by evolution. Solely a small variety of probably the most dominant cocks and hens produced many of the adults of succeeding generations. Because of this, the genetically efficient breeding measurement of the inhabitants was solely about 13% of the variety of grownup birds. Whereas this sounds unhealthy, the authors of this research declare it could be a optimistic think about adaptive evolution (principally, the inferior birds don’t get to breed a lot). When you assume this sounds very Darwinian, then that’s as a result of it’s Darwinian.

Who will get weeded out? For one factor, these birds carrying parasites – they’re much less engaging as mates (supply).

And people roosters with much less crimson irises and smaller combs (supply).

In distinction, the courtship habits of the males didn’t make a lot of a distinction (supply). Given the lads some ladies select, it appears these outcomes are straight transferable to people as properly.

That is probably not true for the outcomes of one other research taking a look at character traits of Crimson Jungle Fowl over their life. Apparently, these traits should not very constant, so a chick having sure character traits might have fairly totally different ones as an grownup. Whereas that is fairly fascinating, the scientific phrases wherein the authors describe their findings function a strong deterrent to informal readers: “Rank-order consistencies of behavioral responses have been general low throughout independence and sexual maturation”.

To my disappointment, eBird doesn’t spotlight how cute the White-bellied Erpornis is, solely describing it as a “small, crested, yuhina-like hen”.

 

 

A missed alternative.

 

 

For the Indochinese Blue Flycatcher, eBird at the very least admits that it’s an “engaging long-tailed flycatcher”

 

The feminine.

 

Among the Siberian Blue Robins seen at Tan Phu seemed remarkably shabby in comparison with those passing via Shanghai on migration. Possibly some pre-migration molt? Or simply sporting shabby garments when you’re not on a date anyway?

 

 

 

In response to Wikipedia, “Bronze is a metallic brown coloration which resembles the steel alloy bronze”. This confirms my suspicion that whoever gave the title to the Bronzed Drongo will need to have been colorblind.

The HBW admires their nest-building functionality: “noticed to function with nice precision, in good collaboration [between the two birds]”.

Bronzed Drongos are good mimics with a large repertoire of species they will imitate – the HBW provides Crested Serpent-eagle, Javan Cuckoo-shrike, and Orange-bellied Leafbird as examples.

The identical applies to Higher Racket-tailed Drongos. They use mimicry to confuse predators and rivals for meals, to draw mates, and to frustrate ornithologists and birders, although it appears I misplaced the hyperlink to a paper proving the latter.

 

Higher Racket-tailed Drongos can mimic alarm calls of different birds that they’ve realized by way of interactions in mixed-species flocks. In response to Wikipedia, that is uncommon, as avian vocal mimicry was believed to be blind to the unique context of the imitated vocalization.

 

The species will need to have made fairly an impression on the primary Western observers – how else to elucidate the scientific title paradiseus? And no, there isn’t a Edward Paradiseus (1812-1853), however thanks for asking.

 

eBird calls Blyth’s Frogmouth a “cryptic, unusual nightbird”, and it was thus a pleasant shock to see it at Tan Phu.

Its species title affinis could be very generic and doesn’t do its curious look justice – in line with the HBW, over 85 kinds share this phrase. It signifies a relationship or similarity. As I stated, a reasonably lame title.

 

When you assume these images don’t present Blyth’s Frogmouth, you would possibly simply be proper – the HBW entry has the ominous sentence “A lot confusion over species limits with regard to this and its shut allies”.

Edward Blyth, the English zoologist the frogmouth is known as after, is seemingly these days misused for example of a creationist by doubtful establishments such because the Creation Museum constructed by the Christian ministry Solutions in Genesis. A paper properly describes these false claims and appropriately summarizes “Regardless of AiG’s claims of being a reliable science group, it doesn’t follow science because it accepts no scientific proof that contradicts its core tenets of a six-day creation and a younger earth”.

By the way, taking a look at images of Mr. Blyth, he does certainly resemble a frogmouth slightly bit. Possibly it’s the beard.

For some cause, Tan Phu appears to have kind of just one leaf warbler, the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler. This makes figuring out the hen simpler, but it surely doesn’t make the species extra fascinating.

 

 

The HBW describes the mating system of the Siamese Fireback as “apparently polygamous, with dominant male largely monopolizing proximity, and due to this fact entry to all of the females in a gaggle” – which sounds reasonably tiring.

 

As well as, nesting principally fails – one research states that solely 8% of those makes an attempt are profitable. Predation is the key cause for the failure, regardless of the species’ cautious collection of nesting websites ideally between the buttresses of enormous bushes.

The scientific species title diardi is derived from French zoologist Pierre Médard Diard (1794-1863), who presumably additionally invented Diard’s Trogon.

Pour Mr. Diard apparently bought cheated by Stamford Raffles, if I learn the Wikipedia entry appropriately: “In December 1818, Thomas Stamford Raffles invited them to accompany him on his journeys and pursue their collections in locations … they left with him on the premise that may equally share the collected animals. … After their arrival at Bencoulen in August 1819, Raffles requisitioned most of their assortment and left them copies of their drawings, descriptions and notes.”

Researchers learning these birds should be glad about digital camera traps – one research utilizing such traps obtained 1.74 images per 100 entice nights. Think about spending 100 nights in a single location and solely seeing your goal on two nights …

The Black-naped Monarch has a lot of subspecies – the HBW lists 23 (one other paper – with some beautiful images of nesting birds – provides the quantity 24). Out of curiosity, I requested ChatGPT for the hen with the very best variety of subspecies – ChatGPT confidently and nearly actually wrongly claims it’s the Crimson-winged Blackbird with an estimated 20 to 24 subspecies.

Given the scenario of girls in Iran, it was in all probability a foul concept for a feminine Black-naped Monarch to point out up within the nation, as described right here.

If you’re extra into virology than ornithology, you could be higher off following a unique weblog – or you might try this paper: “Detection of a novel astrovirus from a black-naped monarch (Hypothymis azurea) in Cambodia”.

 

 

Autor Kai Pflug

JessicaGG

Journalist specialized in online marketing as Social Media Manager. I help professionals and companies to become more Internet and online reputation, which allows to give life to the Social Media Strategies defined for the Company, and thus immortalize brands, products and services. I have participated as an exhibitor in various forums nationally and internationally, I am the author of several articles in digital magazines and Blogs.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button