Hongbenghe is immediately on the border to Myanmar – earlier than COVID-19, it was straightforward sufficient to stroll throughout the border on foot, however now a monstrous lengthy metal and barbed-wire fence separates the 2 international locations. Very interesting to vacationers nostalgic for that iron curtain feeling.
That is the house of the Rusty-naped Pitta, admittedly one of many much less glamorous of the household, notably the subspecies present in Yunnan, however nonetheless a pleasant sight and nonetheless a pitta.
On condition that in keeping with the HBW, the species prefers dense major and secondary montane forests, the notice that the hen additionally forages amongst kitchen waste (in the identical HBW entry) appears considerably incongruous.
The scientific species identify of the Rusty-naped Pitta oatesi honors Eugene William Oates (1845-1911), an English civil servant in India and naturalist. He printed plenty of books on birds of India and Burma, making me marvel how onerous all these abroad civil servants actually labored of their day jobs.
It appears this species is shy even by pitta requirements – the HBW calls it a “very shy and secretive pitta, simply ignored” and says that it’s “very uncommon in China (S. Yunnan)”.
Hongbenghe is an effective place to see a number of laughingthrush species:
The Crimson-tailed Laughingthrush, Trochalopteron milnei, is called after a recent of Mr. Oates, the French professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1835 – 1900). His obituary was printed in Nature.
It’s a bit worrying that whereas the Basel Zoo is listed by Google as having a web page on the Crimson-tailed Laughingthrush, that web page itself doesn’t appear to exist anymore, and the species just isn’t listed among the many inhabitants of the aviary of the zoo. Fairly probably, this laughingthrush is now regionally extinct in Switzerland or no less than in Basel.
And naturally, this entry on the Crimson-tailed Laughingthrush wouldn’t be full with out mentioning a paper that presumably no person will ever learn: “The whole mitochondrial genome of red-tailed laughingthrush ( Garrulax milnei )”. As regular, there are numerous authors (8 on this case), and all appear to be Chinese language (additionally as regular). I’m wondering why.
The White-crested Laughingthrush seems prefer it might simply play a cameo function in a Wham! video.
(Word to these readers who have no idea Wham!: Congratulations, you’re a lot youthful than me and acquired spared quite a lot of actually terrible music).
This laughingthrush is a cooperative breeder – nestlings are fed by all members of a gaggle, typically 6-12 (not simply 2 as in Wham!):
“A feminine could share a nest with one other, and three or extra adults could take turns incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks.” (supply).
Survival charges of chicks improve when there are helpers current – and if in captivity this isn’t an choice, people can even take the place of helpers (supply).
In Singapore, the White-crested Laughingthrush is widespread regardless of not being native and has some traits of an invasive species (supply).
The scientific identify of the Gray-sided Laughingthrush, caerulatus (darkish blue), makes way more sense to me than the widespread identify.
Unusually, the often pretty correct eBird description additionally fails to say the attractive blue across the eyes of the species: “Darkish rufous above and grayish-white beneath, with a silver ear patch, vibrant white throat, and a black patch across the eye.”
Much more surprisingly, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has an internet web page for this species – but it surely comprises completely no data.
The Better Necklaced Laughingthrush used to react to being known as Garrulax pectoralis however now solely comes in the event you name it Pterorhinus pectoralis after some DNA research and the resurrection of the outdated genus Pterorhinus. I’m scripting this principally as a result of I just like the bizarre associations with the time period “resurrecting a genus” – it has one thing about Jesus on the cross to it. Although it often takes longer than 3 days, I suppose.
This additionally means it’s not carefully associated to the Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush (not proven), which remained in Garrulax. Little question, the Lesser NLT shall be relieved to not be bossed round by its erstwhile greater member of the family anymore.
The Scarlet-faced Liocichla (Liocichla ripponi) is one more hen named after some forgotten ornithologist who acquired despatched to India to do empire work and as a substitute principally did birdwatching – on this case, Lt.-Col. George Rippon (1861-1927), a member of the British Military in India and Burma.
eBird describes the species as a “garish medium-sized laughingthrush-like hen” …
… and will get contradicted by the HBW which calls it a “pretty small babbler, principally plain brown”.
Sadly, the Black-throated Laughingthrush is affected by the hen commerce, and a conservation society is looking for its inclusion within the Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Under is a citation immediately from this paper by the Monitor Conservation Analysis Society:
“Commerce information from the vary international locations of Thailand and Vietnam and from Indonesia and USA, each non-range international locations, revealed 10,841 Black-throated Laughingthrushes in commerce, throughout 762 visits to 51 markets between 1966 and 2019. The bulk (63%) had been recorded in places exterior the species’ vary. Fascinating too was that the costs had been highest within the USA and lowest in Thailand, and that costs in Indonesia indicated excessive demand and growing shortage.”
The Black-breasted Thrush has the considerably misogynistic scientific identify dissimilis – why misogynistic? (Rhetorical query, I don’t anticipate a solution from you).
Apparently, the dissimilis (“in contrast to, completely different”) refers back to the distinction between the male and the feminine of the species.
And within the HBW, Edward Blyth is quoted as stating that he lastly noticed “a male, which, as I all alongside suspected, proved to be clad in not fairly so homely a garb as his mate. The male is, certainly, quite a good-looking Thrush.”
No such variations within the Blue Whistling Thrush, although the HBW nonetheless states that “Feminine is comparable however duller”, which refers back to the coloration quite than the IQ of the hen (I hope).
The HBW entry additionally has a pleasant instance for an ornithologist saying the phrase “bullshit” with out utilizing any swearwords: “Race flavirostris [a subspecies] has been thought-about probably to benefit full species standing, however foundation for such a separation unclear”.
At Hongbenghe, some Blue Rock Thrushes apparently endure from delusions of grandeur.
Sure, I do know it’s getting a bit boring, however the scientific species identify of the Rufous-headed Parrotbill, bakeri, honors one more British ornithologist, Edward Charles Stuart Baker (1864-1944).
Wikipedia reviews that he “was a wonderful tennis participant and an enthusiastic large recreation hunter. He misplaced his left arm to a panther …, was tossed by a gaur [an Indian bison] and trampled by an Indian rhinoceros throughout numerous searching expeditions”.
He might also have been a little bit of a fraud, in keeping with Wikipedia: “Among the nest and eggs in his assortment have been thought-about as of doubtful provenance and there are recommendations that he artificially made up a number of the clutches. Some like Charles Vaurie have thought-about it so unreliable that they even instructed the destruction of his egg assortment.”
Effectively, no less than he was not concerned within the slave commerce.
The Pale-billed Parrotbill seems considerably comparable, and I solely acquired dangerous photographs of it.
However the black eyebrow additionally highlighted in its scientific identify of atrosuperciliaris (“black eyebrowed”) differentiates it from the earlier species.
Why anybody would need to identify a hen species – on this case, the Rusty-fronted Barwing – after a paleontologist is past me, but it surely occurred.
The poor species has the scientific identify egertoni, after Sir Philip de Malpas Gray-Egerton (1806-1881), who was not solely a paleontologist but in addition a conservative politician (says Wikipedia, not me).
Most of us sooner or later in time have questioned in regards to the intestine microbiota of Silver-eared Mesias. Particularly, we’re all notably within the microbiota of birds dwelling in a mining space.
Thankfully, some folks don’t simply take into consideration this problem however act. The result’s a latest paper titled “Comparability of intestine microbiota between immigrant and native populations of the Silver-eared Mesia (Leiothrix argentauris) dwelling in mining space”.
This Streaked Spiderhunter gave the impression to be obsessive about cleanliness – the German phrase can be “Waschzwang”, which in English is one thing like “washing compulsion”.
Why that? One paper could present a proof: “A brand new species of the feather mite genus Analges Nitzsch, 1818 (Acariformes: Analgidae) from the Streaked Spiderhunter Arachnothera magna (Passeriformes Nectariniidae), with a renewed analysis and world guidelines to the genus”.
I might additionally take a lot of showers if I had feather mites.
Or perhaps it simply enjoys taking showers.
And sure, just like the lengthy novels of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, the prolonged title of the paper comes from a Russian scientist.
Lastly, a number of species simply as photographs, with none annoying data (that is the excuse – in actuality, I’m simply uninterested in looking for data):
Velvet-fronted Nuthatch …
…. White-tailed Robin …
…. and White-throated Fantail.
