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 notably frequent right here.
The Ochraceous Bulbul appears to be like much like the Puff-throated Bulbul, with which it shares a genus – the similarity made one among 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 could be hooligans: “Associates in free noisy events of 4–8 people … typically aggressively displaces smaller bulbuls”.
Presumably this consists of 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 akin to bringing meals and defending the nest.
This conventional way of life suits effectively with its unexciting species identify of propinqua, that means one thing like “associated, related, neighboring” – the type of identify 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.
Curiously, 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 shouldn’t be 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 will surely 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 is likely to be delighted to find a paper in regards to the totally different vocalizations of two geographically distinct populations of the bulbul – despite the fact that many of the paper (apart from the summary) is written in Thai and thus lovely to have a look at however relatively unintelligible to most of us.
There appears to be virtually no data 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 entire life simply to journey to the place you?re gonna die” (Craig Finn, “Blankets”).
The Larger Coucal spends most of its life feeling superior to the Lesser Coucal.
Nonetheless, this gives no safety in opposition to superstition. Larger 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 Larger Coucal feeding on a Frequent Myna.
An summary of a scientific paper reads as follows (unabridged): “Exterior examination of free vary deserted useless Larger 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 dimension of the louse.” Nonetheless, if you wish to learn the entire article, the pdf file prices 40 Euros. I’m questioning what extra data may probably be in there. Perhaps some background on the colour of the veterinary dispensary, or the birthdays of the authors.
Equally, a narrative titled “Name of the Larger Coucal” revealed by Middlebury Faculty Publications can also be inaccessible to me, so I can’t 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.
Considered one of my cats – when approached by me – sometimes reveals one of many two following reactions – licking me or (play-)biting. Pink Jungle Fowl spend their energetic time additionally virtually solely on two issues, specifically floor pecking (60%) and floor scratching (34%) (supply).
These Pink 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. In consequence, the genetically efficient breeding dimension of the inhabitants was solely about 13% of the variety of grownup birds. Whereas this sounds dangerous, the authors of this examine declare it might be a optimistic consider adaptive evolution (principally, the inferior birds don’t get to breed a lot). Should 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 enticing as mates (supply).
And people roosters with much less purple 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 immediately transferable to people as effectively.
That is probably not true for the outcomes of one other examine taking a look at character traits of Pink Jungle Fowl over their life. Apparently, these traits should not very constant, so a chick having sure character traits could have fairly totally different ones as an grownup. Whereas that is fairly fascinating, the scientific phrases during which the authors describe their findings function a strong deterrent to informal readers: “Rank-order consistencies of behavioral responses had 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 no less than admits that it’s an “enticing long-tailed flycatcher”
The feminine.
A few of the Siberian Blue Robins seen at Tan Phu regarded remarkably shabby in comparison with those passing by means of Shanghai on migration. Perhaps some pre-migration molt? Or simply sporting shabby garments when you find yourself not on a date anyway?
In line with Wikipedia, “Bronze is a metallic brown coloration which resembles the metallic alloy bronze”. This confirms my suspicion that whoever gave the identify 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’ll imitate – the HBW offers Crested Serpent-eagle, Javan Cuckoo-shrike, and Orange-bellied Leafbird as examples.
The identical applies to Larger Racket-tailed Drongos. They use mimicry to confuse predators and opponents for meals, to draw mates, and to frustrate ornithologists and birders, although it appears I misplaced the hyperlink to a paper proving the latter.
Larger Racket-tailed Drongos can mimic alarm calls of different birds that they’ve realized by way of interactions in mixed-species flocks. In line with Wikipedia, that is uncommon, as avian vocal mimicry was believed to be unaware of 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 identify paradiseus? And no, there is no such thing as 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 identify affinis may 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 mentioned, a relatively lame identify.
Should 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 accurately summarizes “Regardless of AiG’s claims of being a reputable 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 just a little bit. Perhaps it’s the beard.
For some cause, Tan Phu appears to have roughly just one leaf warbler, the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler. This makes figuring out the hen simpler, nevertheless it 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 subsequently entry to all of the females in a bunch” – which sounds relatively tiring.
As well as, nesting principally fails – one examine states that solely 8% of those makes an attempt are profitable. Predation is the key cause for the failure, regardless of the species’ cautious number of nesting websites ideally between the buttresses of huge bushes.
The scientific species identify 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 accurately: “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 finding out these birds should be glad about digicam traps – one examine 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 pretty images of nesting birds – offers the quantity 24). Out of curiosity, I requested ChatGPT for the hen with the very best variety of subspecies – ChatGPT confidently and virtually definitely wrongly claims it’s the Pink-winged Blackbird with an estimated 20 to 24 subspecies.
Given the state of affairs of ladies in Iran, it was in all probability a foul thought 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 is likely to be higher off following a special weblog – or you may try this paper: “Detection of a novel astrovirus from a black-naped monarch (Hypothymis azurea) in Cambodia”.
