In June 2023, I once more went to Balangshan, a mountain about 3 hour’s drive from Sichuan’s capital Chengdu – and once more with Alpinebirding, fortuitously now not for them to partially take care of complicated covid restrictions however solely to assist me discover birds that I’m too incompetent a birder to seek out by myself.
The broader Balangshan space has three totally different elements – the low elevation of close by Wolongshan, the upper a part of the street throughout the mountain that’s known as the tunnel space amongst birders, and the precise Balangshan go, which reaches an altitude of 4500 meters or so. And that’s the space this put up, the primary in a sequence of three, covers.
One warning: For those who ever plan to go to Balangshan, ensure to examine with me first – I like to recommend avoiding the place every time I’m there, as that nearly invariably means heavy fog alternating with rain. Or as this time (keep in mind, in June) snow. I’m mildly stunned and grateful that given this case, Alpinebirding nonetheless accepts me as a consumer.
The climate situations meant that often, the Alpine Accentors needed to focus their foraging efforts on the few elements not lined within the white stuff.
Much like the singing of Taylor Swift, the singing of feminine Alpine Accentors attracts males, as described here. Although in actuality, I suppose most Taylor Swift followers are feminine, however that doesn’t actually match into my storyline.
If the analogy holds, one ought to assume that Taylor Swift’s more moderen songs are extra complicated than earlier ones, because the paper states that “older females, which laid bigger clutches, sang extra complicated songs”.
Apparently, Alpine Accentors breed in polygynandrous (multi-male and multi-female mating) teams: an alpha male and 1-3 unrelated subordinate males share a wide range that overlaps with that of 2-4 unrelated females.
The most effective feminine technique appears to be to mate with as most of the males as doable, as this implies extra assist in feeding the chicks by all of the potential fathers (I suppose the fathers don’t have easy accessibility to paternity exams).
Increased-ranking females appear to do that higher than lower-ranking ones, leading to increased survival charges for his or her chicks (source).
The Tibetan Snowcock at first look appears to be like a bit like Obelix to me – I suppose it’s the stripes.
Being lazy, a bunch of researchers used digital camera traps to research the species slightly than following the birds immediately (which might have had some well being advantages).
They discovered that the species is diurnal (effectively, utilizing cameras, would they even have seen nightly actions?), with peak exercise between 8 and 10 am (when workplace employees undergo their e-mail inbox) and 6 and eight pm (when workplace employees have their first beer).
And so they discovered that Tibetan Snowcocks like excessive elevations, mild slopes, and low ranges of vegetation. With regard to their music style, the analysis outcomes have been inconclusive.
Purple and yellow are the colours symbolizing a number of various things – for instance, McDonald’s, the Individuals’s Republic of China, Mastercard, and Kodac. Individually, they’re additionally the colours permitting differentiation between the Purple-billed Chough and the Yellow-billed Chough.
Being a administration marketing consultant, I’m well-versed within the science and artwork of bullshitting. Nonetheless, I’m considerably impressed by a paper titled “Integrating advances in inhabitants and evolutionary ecology with conservation technique by means of long-term research of red-billed choughs”. It has all of the buzzwords one might want for – “built-in”, “ecology”, “conservation”, “long-term”.
And it’s not simply the title. Within the summary, the authors state that they “proactively aimed to attain the twin and interacting targets of advancing inhabitants and evolutionary ecology and advancing efficient conservation”. I used to be sort of afraid they forgot to make use of the phrase “proactive”, however no, I needn’t have nervous.
And the final a part of the summary is one other clear winner: “This case research demonstrates a full iteration by means of the sequence of major science, evidence-based intervention, quantitative analysis, and suggestions that’s advocated in conservation science however nonetheless sometimes achieved. It thereby illustrates how pure science advances knowledgeable conservation actions to make sure the (short-term) stability of the goal inhabitants, and the way conservation-motivated analyses fed again to advance elementary understanding of inhabitants processes.”
Full iteration! Proof-based! Suggestions! Basic understanding!
In a 1997 paper, Spanish researchers describe feather mites on Purple-billed Choughs that appear to really have a constructive impact on the birds, or at the very least not a detrimental one.
However I solely appeared on the summary in a short time, as I missed any thrilling buzzwords.
A third paper at the very least used the time period “Age-Particular Reproductive Efficiency”. Amongst different issues, it finds that feminine Purple-billed Choughs with a number of chicks die youthful whereas these with fewer chicks when younger continuously stay longer. Moms with a number of younger children will discover these findings very convincing.
The HBW appears to be a bit unsure concerning the correct identify of Pyrrhocorax Graculus – is it Yellow-billed Chough or Alpine Chough? To be secure, each names are used on the identical web site.
Not less than the second identify hints on the increased elevation standing of the Yellow-billed Chough. The HBW notes considerably disparagingly that the fowl “could be very a lot a scavenger about human habitation, particularly so about ski resorts in Europe”. This sounds true – I’ve seen the fowl feeding on discarded human meals proper on the Balangshan go (although there are not any skiers there, simply Chinese language vacationers, a few of whom fairly stunned by the chilly at 4500 meters, having turned up in shorts and T-Shirt. In order that they flip to purchasing fatty meals from the distributors on the go hoping to develop an insulating layer of fats, then notice the meals is slightly dangerous, throw a part of the meals away, which then finally ends up being eaten by the choughs).
If such human meals is just not out there, the Yellow-billed Chough goes again to its authentic weight loss program of (at the very least in Europe) grasshoppers, as described here.
The calls of the Big Laughingthrush are fairly widespread each considerably under the Balangshan peak space and on the tunnel space that might be described in a future put up. The HBW appears to be a fan, describing the vocalization as “loud, clear, candy, fairly wealthy and melodious”.
Me, I nonetheless want The Nationwide, regardless of the marginally disappointing newest album.
This species would possibly certainly benefit a bit extra analysis – the one paper I discovered on its breeding checked out solely 7 nests (of which 3 failed).
It appears the species (like me) is just not very keen on their offspring – the research discovered that nest attentiveness through the day decreased from 93% earlier than hatching to 59% throughout days 3–7 of the nestling interval, i.e., when the chicks began to babble and name for consideration. Or perhaps there was simply extra want to gather meals, however I like the primary clarification higher.
There’s a cottage business of publishing papers on DNA sequences of fowl species just like this one on the Blue-fronted Redstart: “The entire mitochondrial genome of Phoenicurus frontalis (Passeriformes: Muscicapidae)”. I suppose that with about 10,500 fowl species, this leaves some work for future generations of ornithologists, although I can’t say I discover this very thrilling. Additionally, I discover it sort of unusual that such a slightly generic paper has 6 listed authors, however perhaps that features the man who purchased espresso and sandwiches for the folks really engaged on the paper.
However what if the alternative – looking for papers on the Blue-fronted Redstart – is “Comparative evaluation of the intestinal tract microbiota and feeding habits of 5 sympatric flycatchers”?
The paper at the very least incorporates the data that the weight loss program for Blue-fronted Redstarts is a combination of bugs (>70%) and plant fruits (<30%) – and naturally, in comparison with the opposite redstarts should not that curious about fruit, this additionally has an influence on the intestine microbes. Nonetheless, not a bit of data I’d need to share at a dinner desk until on a birding tour with very nerdy fellow vacationers.
The Rosy Pipit appears a bit oversold to me because it takes quite a lot of goodwill to see the rosiness of the species. Being moist appears to assist, although.
BirdingAsia has a report on the primary Rosy Pipit seen in Mongolia. Frankly, I discover such experiences comparatively meaningless, however I suppose they provide a way of goal to the listers of this world.
In response to the HBW, the Purple-fronted Rosefinch is the highest-breeding passerine in China, residing at an altitude of about 3300-5700 meters
Certainly these pictures have been taken very near the go, at roughly 4500 meters – the best rosefinch sighting on this journey.
Being monogamous, this massive rosefinch presumably frowns on the polygynandrous Alpine Accentors residing on the identical altitude. However fortuitously, they make no efforts to limit the approach to life of the accentors, ban their books, or stop them from educating their chicks about intercourse.
For a pronunciation train, perhaps the next sentence is an effective selection: The Latin species identify of the Chinese language Rubythroat is tschebaiewi, because the species was named by the Russian geographer Nikolay Przhevalsky in honor of the Cossack Pamfili Tschebaeiv who accompanied Przevalsky on his travels (be aware to sticklers: the 2 totally different spellings of Przevalsky are taken immediately from the Wikipedia article).
That’s the Przevalsky/Przhevalsky who apparently despised the Chinese language and brazenly referred to as for Russia’s annexation of bits and items of China’s territory – not fairly what Mr. Xi had in thoughts when he proclaimed a “no-limits friendship” between the 2 nations.
Whereas the Chinese language Rubythroat is said to each the Siberian Rubythroat and the Himalayan Rubythroat, the consensus appears to be that it is a separate species. One study particularly suggesting this ends with the slightly ChatGPT-like sounding pompous sentence “Our research stresses the significance of making use of an integrative taxonomy strategy to totally unravel the true avian range within the Sino-Himalayan Mountains”. Then once more, the ChatGPT coaching will need to have included hundreds of thousands of similarly-sounding scientific papers, so perhaps the similarity isn’t a surprise.
Additionally out there as video here and here.
The White-browed Tit-warbler solely gave me a number of unsatisfactory pictures of the feminine this time. So ungrateful. Subsequently, no factoids about it on this put up.
Sadly for the species, the identify of the Plain Mountain Finch appears slightly correct. eBird agrees, calling it a “fittingly-named brown finch … [that is] drab brown total”.
Accordingly, not a lot analysis appears to have been accomplished on the species. Not glamorous sufficient, I suppose.
Surprisingly, in accordance with the HBW, among the many nest predators of the species are massive snails.
The Alpine Leaf Warbler is among the many barely extra enticing leaf warblers in China – which admittedly doesn’t imply a lot.
For an introduction to the total horror of leaf warbler identification, look here. It has such encouraging picture annotations as “P. affinis [Tickell’s Leaf Warbler] in Xizang. In apply inseparable from P. occisinensis [Alpine Leaf Warbler]”. Apparently, DNA evaluation confirmed that the Alpine Leaf Warbler diverged from Tickell’s Leaf Warbler about 4 million years in the past, however this time was not utilized to develop any helpful visible variations – a little bit of a waste of time should you ask me.
Really, in accordance with the HBW, these two species are nonetheless only one. However, it appears the HBW is commonly reluctant so as to add new species, as an alternative murmuring about future adjustments that normally fail to occur. So, I suppose it’s best to first wait a number of extra million years and see how issues develop earlier than coming to any closing conclusion.
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