August began how July ended – with a number of birds spending their summer season in a particularly sizzling Shanghai.
Amongst them, a Purple Heron alternating between being proudly uncovered …
… and hiding to the purpose of being virtually invisible.
Or discovering a useless fish however deciding it’s too large or too smelly to eat …
… making the chicken shiver in disgust.
For Yellow Bitterns, hiding appears to be the one possibility accessible.
A paper on the Yellow Bittern in Japan has some attention-grabbing details associated to this: “It’s well-known that Yellow Bitterns undertake a so-called ‘bittern posture’ the place they stand erect with the invoice upright to imitate a reed when they’re on the alert for approaching predators and people. It’s actually tough to detect them after they assume this posture. Yellow Bitterns which have adopted this posture don’t run away even when individuals come significantly near them in all probability as a result of they’ve ‘absolute confidence ?’ in their very own mimicry. They are often captured by hand”
On Guam, the Yellow Bittern generally is a drawback for aviation – in February 1998, a Bittern was struck by an plane roughly each 50 flights (supply).
The canals inhabited by these bitterns and herons are additionally being patrolled by Whiskered Terns.
On the plus facet for male terns, the females are usually trustworthy to their male companions (supply).
On the unfavourable facet, feminine Whiskered Terns have a tendency to depart the care of their chicks to the males.
A research carried out in Japan discovered that farmers ignore the existence of Gray-headed Lapwings. Most certainly, this additionally applies to the Chinese language farmers on Chongming Island.
As a consequence, farming is chargeable for a big share of failed nesting makes an attempt (43% of breeding makes an attempt failed attributable to farming practices, in line with one research).
The Gray-headed Lapwings observe group protection of their nests – it’s efficient towards crows and raptors (supply) however presumably not towards farmers.
“Worldwide Journal of Bonorowo Wetlands” feels like a barely too particular journal title to me however there may be a paper in there on how the Lesser Coucal could fare in West Java wetlands as local weather change continues (not that badly, it appears).
The vary map of the Lesser Coucal might be a bit off – it reveals Shanghai as fully exterior of the vary, which is unsuitable. I feel it’s a summer season breeder, I’ve not seen it in Shanghai in mid-winter.
I forgot who just lately informed me that the Black-winged Stilt is her favourite chicken, however I can perceive her selection.
The Mandarin Chinese language identify for the species is extra exact than the English one – Heichì cháng jiaoyù means Black-winged Lengthy-legged Sandpiper.
Listed here are two extra somewhat stylish-looking chicken species: Pied Avocet …
… and Black-winged Kite.
Juvenile Chinese language Blackbirds look virtually as silly as human kids.
Black Drongos breed in Shanghai.
Presumably, that is the subspecies Dicrurus macrocercus cathoecus, although I’ve completely no concept why it deserves the identify cathoecus (“dwelling beneath”).
No less than the Little Ringed Plover is certainly little, and the attention is ringed, although that is much less seen in juveniles.
In Europe, the species advantages from river restoration (supply).
My guess is that what I noticed at Fengxian was a Pin-tailed Snipe. Nevertheless, I’m removed from certain.
An outdated weblog publish advises to “Hold Calm and Examine Snipes!”, however I doubt that’s for me.
It focuses on the excellence between Pin-tailed Snipe and Swinhoe’s Snipe, one thing that different papers admit is tough: “Variations between Pintail Snipe Gallinago stenura and Swinhoe’s Snipe G. megala have been overstated in previous literature.”
Similar uncertainty for this cuckoo – Himalayan Cuckoo, I suppose, however primarily primarily based on the variations in distribution, juvenile Oriental Cuckoos shouldn’t be frequent this far South.
How I do know it’s a juvenile? The chicken began telling me how nice Taylor Swift is … (I hope any person appreciates my dad jokes)
Extra cuckoos elsewhere.
Even cuckoo timber.
Brown Shrikes are often the primary passerines one sees throughout migration – so it was this time.
Not migrating: Reed Parrotbills.
Sharing the reed habitat with considerably plainer birds: Plain Prinia (sure, very low-budget joke).
And a Widespread Kingfisher pretending to be in jail.
Sadly, with Clare now not reporting on the birds of Broome, I now not know concerning the standing of the Oriental Dollarbird in Australia.
However no less than on Chongming Island they had been pretty seen in August.
Numbers of the Eurasian Hoopoe are declining quickly in Central Europe however it’s nonetheless frequent at Nanhui.
These people working towards extra cannibalism are extra profitable at elevating chicks – primarily, the youthful chicks function dwelling meals storage for the older ones. Retains the meat recent …
To cite from the supply straight: “Hoopoes primarily eat bugs … so their lengthy, curved payments aren’t preferrred for killing and consuming chicks. That is likely to be why mom hoopoes typically seize the unfortunate chick and shove it into the mouth of an older chick, which swallows it entire.”
Throughout one breeding season, a pair of Widespread Kestrels together with the nestlings captures about 520 prey gadgets (principally rodents). Helpful birds (supply).
These pictures in all probability present a juvenile, because the juveniles have lighter ft and legs than grownup females.
Among the newer scientific articles now embrace what they name Graphical Abstracts. Right here is an instance from a paper on the Widespread Kestrel (Laura Giovanetti, Silvia Casini, Tommaso Campani, Ilaria Caliani, State-of-the-art, gaps and future views on frequent kestrel ecotoxicology, Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, Quantity 102, 2023, 104237, ISSN 1382-6689, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2023.104237. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1382668923001795)
Frankly, I’m not certain such a graphical summary helps a lot. However it appears to point out that the administration consultants have received …
The scientific identify of the Lengthy-tailed Shrike, Lanius schach, supposedly is derived from the A–Scack calls of the chicken. It was coined by Pehr Osbeck in 1757, supposedly primarily based on a Chinese language identify for this chicken – although the identify generally utilized in China, zongbei bolao (“Brown-tailed Shrike”) doesn’t sound like that in any respect.
After which, lastly, correct autumn migration arrived, permitting me to point out a number of birds that simply made the cutoff date for this publish:
Yellow-rumped Flycatcher
Siberian Blue Robin
Japanese Topped Warbler
Black Paradise Flycatcher
Tiger Shrike
Japanese Marsh Harrier
Those that don’t like pittas can cease studying this publish now. For the others, here’s a Fairy Pitta seen at Nanhui on August 30.
