Ruili is a Chinese language metropolis proper on the border to Myanmar, and a significant border crossing. Once I final visited the city nearly 10 years in the past, it had a Wild West really feel, and Wikipedia claims that it’s “an necessary location for commerce with Myanmar, in each authorized and unlawful items and providers” however it appeared fairly tame to me this time. My main battle within the metropolis was with the gear in a brilliant trendy lodge room, with directions all in Chinese language, stopping me from getting a sizzling bathe and sizzling espresso within the morning. I admit this isn’t fairly on the extent of fellow writers’ posts describing birding as an excessive sport.
The proximity to the Myanmar border is mirrored within the presence of Burmese Shrikes right here – on the incorrect aspect of the border, however it’s well-known that this species has by no means been significantly good at geography.
Its scientific identify is a bit pathetic – collurioides, which means that it resembles (-oides) the Crimson-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio). A extremely artistic identify this isn’t.
The identical park in Ruili additionally had Lengthy-tailed Shrike, presumably subspecies tricolor, which right here appears to be like fairly totally different from the subspecies widespread in Shanghai (schach). In case you are impressed by me mentioning subspecies, don’t be – I simply appeared it up within the HBW however principally, I nonetheless suppose that subspecies needs to be unlawful.
Someway I had beforehand not seen the fantastic thing about the Coppersmith Barbet, a chicken that may certainly be recognized comparatively simply by its name that can be accountable for its identify (it’s a metallic name that sounds considerably like a coppersmith hammering metallic).
This picture explains the scientific species identify haemacephalus (bloodheaded).
Curiously, the Chinese language identify highlights the pink breast moderately than the pink head – it interprets roughly as “Crimson-breasted Imitation Woodpecker”.
The HBW – in a barely Puritan streak – appears to criticize the work ethics of the species: “It apparently begins exercise 5-10 minutes earlier than dawn, later than different chicken species sharing its habitat”. Possibly it’s simply higher at reaching a very good work-life steadiness.
Happily for human males, the standard courtship of people differs from that of the Coppersmith Barbets, which the HBW describes as follows: “When the nest is prepared, the male could start courtship feeding, providing fruit to the feminine. The feminine generally rejects this fruit, turning her again and defecating within the course of the male”. A extra detailed (and barely much less disgusting) description of the mating conduct will be discovered right here.
One paper on the species and its breeding conduct has the good sentence “Coppersmith barbet lives fortunately both alone, in pairs, or in small teams of 4 to 5 birds”.
In response to an article within the Enterprise Commonplace, “Ashy Drongos have chosen the damaging profession of tackling bugs with nasty stings though they don’t possess protecting dense feathers or thick-skin across the eye”.
Ashy Drongos can apparently mimic different birds and imitate the motion of different chicken species, then subsequently attempt to steal their meals (supply).
As with many different drongo species, the Ashy Drongo largely simply sits someplace and appears round, an exercise which in a paper is politely described as “Scanning”.
Whereas the Ashy Drongo thus spends 71% of its time, the Bronzed Drongo tops this with 76%, in response to the identical paper.
“Not lazy, simply scanning”
Each time there’s a kind to fill out, the Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike curses its identify. By the point it has completed, the opposite species are already ready in line on the counter, and it has to maneuver to the top of that line.
The chicken has now began utilizing its scientific identify, Hemipus picatus, as it’s considerably shorter.
Maybe the center part of weblog posts needs to be comparatively boring with the intention to eliminate the extra informal readers. So, listed here are some widespread birds seen at Ruili:
Gray Heron
Plumbeous Water Redstart
White-capped Redstart
Olive-backed Pipit
Crimson-vented Bulbul
Crimson-whiskered Bulbul
If this publish was a tune, the part above is likely to be known as the center eights, although in a very good tune, the center eights are typically extra fascinating.
Which is pretty much as good as any location on this publish to say one other tune favourite, “Pretend Empire“, as common by The Nationwide.
After studying a shiny superstar paper – possibly about an Oscar celebration – the eBird reviewer will get again to writing brief descriptions of birds however nonetheless has the vocabulary of the journal in his or her head. The result’s an outline of the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch like this: “One of many few nuthatches to interrupt the overall impartial coloration scheme of the household, this stunner will be fairly widespread …”.
This species is a cavity nester however unable to construct its personal cavities. Not an ideal state of affairs given the persistent housing scarcity in appropriate environments. For instance, one paper states that in Sri Lanka’s cloud forest, solely about 3% of all timber have appropriate cavities.
For some purpose, the Mandarin Chinese language identify of the Scarlet Minivet interprets as “Crimson Mountain Pepper Fowl”
I do hope a Chinese language reader of this weblog can clarify the origin or which means of this identify.
The web site nepaldesk.com has an outline of the Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush that reads prefer it has been written by ChatGPT after particularly having acquired directions to mock tourism companies:
“With its pleasant presence, the Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush is an emblem of Nepal’s wealthy avian range. Recognizing its worth for eco-tourism and biogeographical analysis, it’s important to preserve this magnificent chicken. Preserving its habitat by way of sustainable practices and inspiring accountable wildlife tourism are essential steps in making certain the continued existence of this charismatic species. In conclusion, the Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush provides a splash of coloration and attraction to the already spellbinding Nepali wilderness. As we proceed exploring Nepal’s unparalleled magnificence and biodiversity, allow us to recognize these vibrant gems hidden in its forests and try to guard them for future generations to admire.”
Frequent Tailorbirds will be very productive, with as much as 4 broods per 12 months (supply).
In 93% of instances, the birds constructed new nests for every brood regardless of on common solely shifting 10 meters away from the earlier nesting web site. This might trace at an answer for the struggling Chinese language housing market – shifting to a brand new condominium for every new baby? Alternatively, most Chinese language {couples} solely have one baby anyway, so this could not make an excessive amount of of a distinction within the general housing demand.
Some analysis subjects appear a bit weird to me. A paper on the Little Cormorant is titled “Actions of the Little Cormorant, Phalacrocorax niger (Vieillot) in relation to daylight in captivity”. Not solely was this examine executed in a zoo, which ought to critically have an effect on the relevance of the outcome. It additionally appears that no person has ever proofread the summary because it accommodates the next puzzling sentence:
“Time spent in preening was the very best (32.25 min/h) in wet day. Lowest (22.47 min/h) in cloudy day and intermediate (14.73 min/h) in sunny day.” Peer assessment, schmeer assessment?
One other paper asks “Does the weight loss plan of the Little Cormorant Microcarbo niger have an effect on industrial fisheries?”. And concludes that it presumably does.
Slaty-backed Forktails appear to be fairly widespread at Moli Tropical Rainforest Spot, a birding location about half an hour away from Ruili by automobile.
2024 additionally lastly sees the long-awaited launch of a paper on the entire mitochondrial genome of the Slaty-backed Forktail. I hope there are nonetheless a number of species left for future scientists to research.
Aside from bugs, these forktails additionally eat small fish – some pictures will be seen in this paper.
Lastly, the White-hooded Babbler appears to be like a bit like it’s a proud member of probably the most unique tennis membership in a smallish city. However I don’t maintain that towards the species.
