In a longtime custom reaching way back to 2023, I regard the primary day I see a colourful male flycatcher in Shanghai as my private begin of the migration season. This yr, the date was April 11, just a few days sooner than final yr (April 16).
And the birds in query (sure, two of them on the identical day) had been Blue-and-white Flycatcher …
… (eBird gushingly describes the grownup male as “strikingly lovely”, which is true) …
… (whereas the eBird reviewer will need to have written the part on the species in a bout of melancholy, because the tune of the chook is described as “a brief, sad-sounding sequence of whistles”) …
… and Narcissus Flycatcher, which eBird appears to fee as considerably much less engaging than the primary species (“splendidly coloured” isn’t fairly as enthusiastic as “strikingly lovely”).
Just a few days later, a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher joined. It’s about as yellow-rumped because the Narcissus Flycatcher – the Chinese language title which interprets as “white-browed flycatcher” is a bit higher at highlighting the distinction between the 2 species.
Extra colourful flycatchers adopted:
Mugimaki Flycatcher (with the feminine wanting like a male that has been washed for too lengthy or at too excessive a temperature) …
and the Taiga Flycatcher.
It appears pretty much like the Pink-breasted Flycatcher, however one paper asks “Are you able to inform a Taiga by its tail?”, solutions sure, after which instantly warns you to not do precisely such an id primarily based on just one characteristic. Nonetheless, I suppose the reasonably catchy title makes it worthwhile.
Different species in the identical esthetic vein (smallish, cute, colourful) included the Siberian Rubythroat.
And sure, it’s nonetheless exhausting for me to not take images of this species any time I encounter it – regardless that this month this occurred very steadily.
The male Siberian Blue Robin has a wonderful blue shade shut to what’s known as Prussian Blue, which was the uniform coat shade worn by the infantry and artillery regiments of the Prussian Military. It’s produced by oxidation of ferrous ferrocyanide salts. Studying irrelevant issues whereas studying about birds. Apparently, in 1958 Crayola modified their Prussian Blue crayon to Midnight Blue as a result of they realized nobody knew what Prussia was – you do now.
Of the feminine, the web site Birds of Singapore says that it “resembles male however has greyish-brown upperparts”, which is an odd means of stating that its shade is totally totally different.
In 2006, some Russian authors described a brand new subspecies (nechaevi) with some very important variations from those beforehand described: “The second major feather of L. c. nechaevi isn’t shorter than the sixth major feather. The coloration of the chook subspecies is especially much like that of L. c. bochaiensis, however differs within the wider distribution of darkish areas on the physique sides.” Hmm, does that persuade me?
Right here’s a Bluethroat.
Observe the masterful match of the blue plastic with the colour of the chook on this shot. I’m all the time attempting to disgrace China into decreasing its environmental air pollution however with moderately restricted outcomes to this point.
Within the subsequent days, the Bluethroat stayed however Chinese language chook photographers took over my authentic web site of discovering the chook. Now, you possibly can see the male standing on a pleasant pile of moss. All of the trash is both below the moss or a minimum of exterior of the view of the digital camera. Coping with environmental air pollution the Chinese language means – genius!
The moss hill apparently was so engaging that the Bluethroat even got here throughout heavy rain.
In case you are poor, chances are you’ll solely be capable to afford moderately substandard bluethroats.
A male Japanese Robin would have match higher on this sequence, however the feminine can also be engaging and moderately troublesome to see in Shanghai in spring.
In the event you criticize the paler shade of the feminine Japanese Robin (and even point out it), I’ll accuse you of being a misogynist.
The Brown-eared Bulbul is kind of widespread in Japan however a lot much less so in Shanghai. Apparently, in Japan some chook watchers don’t notably like bulbuls as they scare the opposite species away – right here, being a single particular person, this bulbul didn’t dare to bully every other species.
Right here’s what ChatGPT says in regards to the Oriental Scops Owl: “The Oriental Scops Owl is an interesting species with distinctive diversifications that permit it to thrive in its setting. Its small measurement and wonderful camouflage make it a difficult chook to identify within the wild, however its distinctive calls typically reveal its presence.”
Sadly, they by no means appear to name when in Nanhui, and they’re certainly troublesome to identify. Each that I noticed at Nanhui this month had been missed by a minimum of 95% of chook watchers …
Marsh Grassbirds appear to be standard with Shanghai birdwatchers (and presumably birdwatchers typically) regardless that (or as a result of?) they are often exhausting to see and even tougher to {photograph}.
However they make for good copy for sensationalist broadsheets – if this sentence from a examine is suitably rephrased: “The sudden disappearance of a nesting male from his territory made the neighboring male increase his authentic territory to the vacant space the place the unrelated nestlings had been being reared by a feminine within the nest. The male discovered the nest and attacked the unrelated nestlings. We inferred that the infanticide sequence was performed as meals useful resource competitors and/or sexually chosen infanticide.”
As I didn’t wish to do the modifying myself, I requested ChatGPT: Might you rephrase and shorten this passage in order that it appears like an article in a sensationalist newspaper?
And sure, ChatGPT did: “Territorial Drama: Hen Dad Vanishes, Neighbor Strikes In and Assaults Nestlings! In a stunning flip of occasions, the sudden disappearance of a nesting male songbird left a major piece of territory up for grabs. The neighbor didn’t waste any time—he swooped in, discovered a nest with unrelated infants, and attacked! Consultants imagine it’s both a vicious battle for meals or a darkish twist within the quest for mates.”
Guess who wrote the HBW entry for Alstroem’s Warbler? Sure, it was none apart from Per Alstroem. Appears a bit North Korean model to me to call a chook after its discoverer after which have the identical particular person write about it, but it surely appears to be shameless isn’t the unique prerogative of Mr. Trump.
A quick paper in the Journal of the Pure Historical past of African Birds factors out shoddy analysis that ended up describing the Eurasian Pastime as a “hunter of nightfall and daybreak”. It’s not.
One other paper hypothesizes that the Eurasian Pastime has “false eyes” in the back of its head, very like the Collared Owlet. Sadly, my picture doesn’t illustrate this in any respect.
Listed below are some images with none annoying phrases:
Brambling
Gray-capped Greenfinch
Blue Rock Thrush
Black-collared Starling
Black Drongo
Hair-crested Drongo
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Black-winged Stilt
Manchurian Bush Warbler
Asian Stubtail
Chinese language Pond Heron
Eurasian Hoopoe (moist morph)
Some endangered species:
Black-faced Spoonbill
Far Japanese Curlew
Chinese language Egret, with a recognized world inhabitants of solely about 2,600-3,400 birds (supply).
Apparently, this chook enjoys intercourse exterior of established relationships however much less so with its formal associate. Or to cite immediately from the supply: “Observations performed in 2003 at Xing-Ren Tuo in Liaoning Province indicated that the species had a low within-pair copulation frequency and a comparatively excessive extra-pair copulation frequency.”
Different components of the summary additionally learn like tutorial descriptions of pornographic films: “The incidence of extra-pair copulations depended upon the absence of the cuckolder’s mate and the cuckolded male”.
This Little Ringed Plover isn’t endangered however is clearly having a foul hair day.
Many thrushes will not be notably elegant birds – consider Pale Thrush – however the Japanese Thrush is.
Some male Japanese Thrushes appear to have interaction in morally questionable conduct – in line with the HBW, “Polygynous males have been present in Japan, sustaining major and secondary territories (singing areas) and making daybreak journeys and even a number of daytime journeys to those areas”.
As all the time, it’s the feminine of the species affected by this conduct.
Black Redstarts are uncommon in Shanghai (in reality, this was the primary one I’ve ever seen right here) however not so in France.
The males there (and elsewhere) sing in several microdialects, and curiously, males are extra aggressive towards singers sharing their very own microdialect. Sadly, a minimum of the summary of the paper doesn’t give a speculation as to why that is the case.
There may be additionally a distinction between the tune of grownup male Black Redstarts and that of subadults – perhaps an indication (an “trustworthy sign”, in science-speak) by the subadults that helps them keep away from dreary old-man gatherings in smoke-filled pubs …
In sure poses, the Eurasian Wryneck appears like a harmful snake.
In others, extra like a sock puppet.
In line with an article in Nationwide Geographic, when spooked, Eurasian Wrynecks certainly “bend and twist their head backward and forward, typically whereas hissing, to mimic a forest snake”.
This snake-like conduct additionally led to the idea that they’ve some magical powers – sadly, these days we don’t assume that anymore, preferring to imagine in Bitcoin.
Among the many numerous buntings of the month, the spotlight was this Chestnut Bunting. A troublesome chook to get a good picture of – I do know, photographers say that of many species (offers them a larger feeling of accomplishment), however eBird appears to assist this declare: “Small, shy bunting, often seen via a display screen of thick shrubby vegetation in low, dense thickets”.
Do you sleep properly when the sunshine is on? If not, you’ve gotten one thing in widespread not solely with me but additionally with mentioned Chestnut Bunting. A Chinese language examine discovered that synthetic gentle delayed the time till the birds fell asleep, lowered sleep length, and elevated the frequency of awakenings.
The quantity of disturbance additionally relies on the colour of the sunshine – the authors hopefully conclude “The examine highlights the potential of adjusting spectral compositions of sunshine supply to mitigate the disturbance of synthetic gentle to avian sleep”. Good luck telling a Chinese language metropolis to vary the colour of its gentle bulbs …
Listed below are just a few extra buntings earlier than Shanghai strikes into the bunting summer time break:
Black-faced Bunting
Tristram’s Bunting
Yellow-browed Bunting
Little Bunting
Yellow-throated Bunting
The put up ends with one other magnificence, the Black-capped Kingfisher. Sending images of it to an American good friend and birdwatcher obtained the next response: “It’s grossly unfair that Asians even in massively industrialized landscapes have nice kingfishers. North American kingfishers simply don’t measure up.”
Certainly, decoupling is not going to be straightforward for People, a minimum of not within the space of kingfishers.
Because of S.R. for the title. The second a part of it, to be exact – the primary half I might nearly come up alone, thanks very a lot.
