On this second submit on the birds of Tan Phu Forest, let’s get the bulbuls out of the way in which first. Three appear to be notably frequent right here.
The Ochraceous Bulbul seems just like the Puff-throated Bulbul, with which it shares a genus – the similarity made one in all my journey companions doubt the entire framework of species distinctions.
Even for a bulbul, it’s a “cumbersome, very noisy, conspicuous” chicken (HBW).
The HBW additionally signifies that these bulbuls could be hooligans: “Associates in free noisy events of 4–8 people … usually aggressively displaces smaller bulbuls”.
Presumably this consists of the Gray-eyed Bulbul, a a lot lighter chicken additionally usually seen at Tan Phu.
Not a very progressive chicken – in response to one paper primarily molt, solely feminine Gray-eyed Bulbuls construct the nest and incubate, whereas the males do typical male issues comparable to bringing meals and defending the nest.
This conventional way of life suits effectively with its unexciting species identify of propinqua, which means one thing like “associated, related, neighboring” – the sort of identify unimaginative scientists give to a brand new species that appears too boring to advantage 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 “boring 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 perhaps delighted find a paper in regards to the totally different vocalizations of two geographically distinct populations of the bulbul – although a lot of the paper (apart from the summary) is written in Thai and thus stunning to take a look at however relatively unintelligible to most of us.
There appears to be nearly no info 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 affords no safety towards superstition. Larger Coucal physique components are used as conventional drugs by the Malays in Kuok Village in Indonesia (supply). Conventional knowledge typically 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 lifeless Larger Coucal in a veterinary dispensary, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India revealed presence of a big sized louse within the feathers and was recognized as Laemobothrion most on the premise of morphology and measurement of the louse.” Nonetheless, if you wish to learn the whole article, the pdf file prices 40 Euros. I’m questioning what further info may probably be in there. Possibly 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 School Publications can be inaccessible to me, so I can’t touch upon its literary or ornithological advantage. It begins with the sentence “Noomi wakes up early on Sunday morning as a result of her proper ear hurts with a boring, common pulse.” Unsure if and when the coucal exhibits up within the story.
Certainly one of my cats – when approached by me – sometimes exhibits one of many two following reactions – licking me or (play-)biting. Crimson Jungle Fowl spend their energetic time additionally nearly solely on two issues, specifically floor pecking (60%) and floor scratching (34%) (supply).
These Crimson Jungle Fowl less than scratch are weeded out by evolution. Solely a small variety of probably the most dominant cocks and hens produced a lot of the adults of succeeding generations. In consequence, the genetically efficient breeding measurement of the inhabitants was solely about 13% of the variety of grownup birds. Whereas this sounds dangerous, the authors of this research declare it could be a optimistic think about 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 engaging as mates (supply).
And people roosters with much less purple irises and smaller combs (supply).
In distinction, the courtship conduct of the males didn’t make a lot of a distinction (supply). Given the boys some ladies select, it appears these outcomes are instantly transferable to people as effectively.
That might not be true for the outcomes of one other research character traits of Crimson Jungle Fowl over their life. Apparently, these traits are usually not very constant, so a chick having sure character traits might 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 robust deterrent to informal readers: “Rank-order consistencies of behavioral responses had been total 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 chicken”.
A missed alternative.
For the Indochinese Blue Flycatcher, eBird not less than admits that it’s an “engaging long-tailed flycatcher”
The feminine.
Among the Siberian Blue Robins seen at Tan Phu seemed remarkably shabby in comparison with those passing via Shanghai on migration. Possibly some pre-migration molt? Or simply carrying shabby garments when you’re not on a date anyway?
In response to Wikipedia, “Bronze is a metallic brown coloration which resembles the steel alloy bronze”. This confirms my suspicion that whoever gave the identify to the Bronzed Drongo should have been colorblind.
The HBW admires their nest-building functionality: “noticed to function with nice precision, in excellent 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 rivals 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 through interactions in mixed-species flocks. In response to Wikipedia, that is uncommon, as avian vocal mimicry was believed to be blind to the unique context of the imitated vocalization.
The species should have made fairly an impression on the primary Western observers – how else to clarify 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 could be very generic and doesn’t do its curious look justice – in response to 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 photographs 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 outwardly these days misused for instance 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 official science group, it doesn’t apply science because it accepts no scientific proof that contradicts its core tenets of a six-day creation and a younger earth”.
By the way, photographs of Mr. Blyth, he does certainly resemble a frogmouth a bit of bit. Possibly it’s the beard.
For some motive, Tan Phu appears to have kind of just one leaf warbler, the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler. This makes figuring out the chicken simpler, however 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 due to this fact entry to all of the females in a bunch” – which sounds relatively tiring.
As well as, nesting principally fails – one research states that solely 8% of those makes an attempt are profitable. Predation is the most important motive for the failure, regardless of the species’ cautious choice 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 acquired 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 will 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 digital camera traps – one research utilizing such traps obtained 1.74 photographs 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 numerous subspecies – the HBW lists 23 (one other paper – with some pretty photographs of nesting birds – offers the quantity 24). Out of curiosity, I requested ChatGPT for the chicken with the very best variety of subspecies – ChatGPT confidently and nearly definitely wrongly claims it’s the Crimson-winged Blackbird with an estimated 20 to 24 subspecies.
Given the state of affairs of girls in Iran, it was in all probability a nasty concept for a feminine Black-naped Monarch to indicate up within the nation, as described right here.
If you’re extra into virology than ornithology, you is perhaps higher off following a unique weblog – or you can take a look at this paper: “Detection of a novel astrovirus from a black-naped monarch (Hypothymis azurea) in Cambodia”.
