The pictures on this submit have been taken in 2015 and 2016 – I used to be not solely an amazingly engaging, nearly younger individual then, but additionally a surprisingly unhealthy photographer. I additionally solely managed to see relatively widespread chook species at Shennongjia, a nature reserve in Hubei province, China.
If this doesn’t put you off from studying this submit, you’re hopeless anyway, so simply proceed …
The Brown-breasted Bulbul would possibly effectively be the most typical chook at Shennongjia, so it appears applicable to start out with it.
This photograph of a Buff-throated Warbler (I hope it’s, anyway – Bella from Alpinebirding will most likely appropriate me in a remark if I’m mistaken) is outstanding for each the variety of bugs within the chook’s invoice and my wonderful incapability to make the most of noise discount to smoothen the background.
Happily, some birds like this relatively great Chinese language Babax household with chicks let me get shut sufficient – and in first rate sufficient mild – that smoothening the background was not a lot of a problem.
In case you see a Collared Finchbill earlier than it has washed its face and brushed its enamel within the morning, it appears to be like like this.
“You might have waited to take the photograph till I’ve taken my tub, couldn’t you?”
(sure, I do know, too many pictures of this one, however I like its colours)
“Please take me with some pink objects – it highlights my good inexperienced coloration”.
“Pure reddish tones can be even nicer”.
My lawyer instructed me simply to name this a Cuckoo species so there can be no lawsuits from irate birders with higher chook id abilities than mine.
In case you suppose this Daurian Redstart appears to be like unhealthy, keep in mind how unattractive you checked out sure occasions whenever you have been a young person.
At any time when the wagtails have a household gathering in someone’s house, you possibly can normally discover the Forrest Wagtail within the kitchen as that is closest to their pure forest habitat – not out within the open in the lounge.
Previously, Nice Noticed Woodpeckers principally lived off renting out their previous flats to different species. In lots of Western markets, that is not a dependable revenue stream because the market has been flooded with birdhouses put up by well-meaning people not realizing that this fully destroys the property market. Happily for the Nice Noticed Woodpecker dwelling in Shennongjia, this has not occurred right here but.
The photograph under exhibits the zygodactyl toe association (two toes to the entrance, two to the again) helpful for climbing bushes …
… whereas this one exhibits how the stiff tail feathers are used as a prop in opposition to the trunk.
Feeding on moths, as this Inexperienced-backed Tit does, just isn’t significantly environmentally pleasant as a big share of the moth – significantly the wings – is inedible and thus is simply being discarded on the spot.
Gray-capped Greenfinches apparently are a bit just like the American inhabitants (see, e.g., “The rise in optimistic assortative mating“) and Hollywood stars particularly, in that high-quality people favor to mate with one another, relatively than with nobodies. That is described by two Chinese language scientists who may do with someone to assist them appropriate their English-language papers.
The discovering itself just isn’t very stunning although – it could be sort of bizarre if socially monogamous birds of each sexes have been to not attempt to discover the highest-quality associate.
Sure, it appears to be like sort of plain. However does it need to be named Plain Flowerpecker? A little bit of kindness in naming birds may go a good distance.
A male Plumbeous Water Redstart is on this bizarre transition part the place there are already the primary stubbles of facial hair showing however shopping for a razor remains to be a waste of cash.
A Crimson-billed Blue Magpie pretending to be a moist canine.
In case you ever questioned why anybody would go to the flicks and watch a Jean-Claude Van Damme film, the lyrics of “Inferno” by the Felice Brothers present a solution (“Battle Membership was bought out. We went to see Inferno as a substitute.”) I began this paragraph with out having any concept the right way to hyperlink this tune to the Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush. I nonetheless do not know. Concepts welcome.
I frantically searched the web for a (presumably British) naturalist/ornithologist with the surname Russet (Lord Elgar Russet?) earlier than discovering that russet means “reddish-brown in coloration”. Takes a number of the thriller out of the Russet Sparrow, I’m afraid.
The Verditer Flycatcher has discovered an fascinating solution to keep away from being parasitized by cuckoos. It feeds newly hatched chicks totally with beetles and grasshoppers. These are poor high quality and hard-to-digest weight-reduction plan objects which might be hardly ever fed to chicks by common cuckoo hosts (supply). Form of like kicking the bum roommate or associate out by solely getting ready actually unhealthy meals.
As a consequence, regardless that the Verditer Flycatcher doesn’t discriminate in opposition to overseas eggs, no cuckoo species has discovered a viable solution to flip it right into a helpful stepparent.
“Hey, it’s such a ravishing sunny day! Why don’t all of us go to our native pool and have a shower!” (Vinous-throated Parrotbills)
(there most likely is one chook about one meter away from the little pool, simply attempting to avoid the gang a bit. I determine with that particular person)
Coming again to brood parasitism: The White-browed Laughingthrush is probably an unique host of the Massive Hawk-Cuckoo. Nevertheless, with time it has gotten higher at rejecting eggs that don’t mimic its personal eggs effectively. The authors of this paper suppose that this may increasingly have led to the Massive Hawk-Cuckoo partially switching to a different host species, the Chinese language Babax (see pictures above), as this species just isn’t pretty much as good at rejecting non-matching eggs but (supply).
Lastly, some extra studying materials as a reward to those that have gotten this far:
“The Bear Who Let It Alone” by James Thurber.