If I needed to outline spring from a Shanghai birder’s perspective, I must say that for me, it begins on the day I see my first colourful flycatcher – like this male Narcissus Flycatcher. So, for me, spring started on April 16.
I solely noticed the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher two days later, so it didn’t fairly make it into the “First colourful flycatcher of the spring” honor function.
The one who named this fowl apparently cleverly selected the identify Yellow-rumped Flycatcher to tell apart the fowl from the Narcissus Flycatcher, which can also be yellow-rumped. In Chinese language, this fowl known as White-browed Flycatcher, which introduces some (presumably undesirable) logic into the world of fowl names.
The third within the Nanhui assortment of gloriously coloured flycatchers is the Blue-and-white Flycatcher.
Okay, the phrase “superb” doesn’t fairly apply to the feminine, I’m afraid.
One other Nanhui journey additionally introduced a Northern Boobook, which eBird properly describes as a “slender brown owl with comically expressive golden eyes”.
Whereas one would suppose that such a fierce-looking fowl primarily lives off bigger prey, this isn’t the case. In a single examine cited within the HBW, 99% of prey objects have been bugs, and the remaining 1% was nearly solely birds.
Not shocking then {that a} pair of Gentle-vented Bulbuls (photograph close to the tip of this submit), when seeing the owl at Nanhui, couldn’t cease complaining about it. It didn’t appear to hassle the owl a lot although.
You may as well see the owl not shifting a lot in a short video. Oh, the thrill. The clacking sound within the background shouldn’t be a digicam however the sound of the irritated bulbuls. Although the sound of the automotive shouldn’t be the sound of a bulbul imitating a automotive however an precise automotive.
The Siberian Blue Robin is one other indicator of spring for me.
To be trustworthy, each the robin and the flycatchers proven above remind me of the easter eggs I hunted for as a baby – the identical robust colours in entrance of a inexperienced background, similar time of the yr (be happy to insert your individual Proust Madeleine reference right here) …
Bluethroats apparently are good at imitating different birds. In Alaska, they have been discovered to imitate 30 completely different species (source). To my information, no Bluethroats have participated within the Eurovision Music Contest thus far although, perhaps as a result of in that contest the imitation of different individuals’s work must be obscured a bit.
Whereas this singing displays their extra romantic facet (sure, I’m anthropomorphizing now, and in a foul approach, however I must make a hyperlink to the following factoid that’s completely different from my ordinary “and now for one thing fully completely different”), they will also be cold-hearted calculators of their very own (or higher, their genes) pursuits.
When meals for feeding their chicks is brief, they concentrate on the most important chicks – it’s certainly the dad and mom making the selection to concentrate on the big chicks somewhat than the chicks preventing amongst themselves, as reported in a study. The technical time period right here is “parental provisioning guidelines” – what ornithologists say once they need to describe which chicks get fed.
In one other paper on Bluethroats with the considerably offputting title “Ecological constraints on extra-pair paternity within the bluethroat”, the authors anthropomorphize as effectively – through the use of the time period “unattractive males” to explain a subgroup of male bluethroats (a subgroup that’s, as you’ll be able to guess, characterised by being of a barely lower than stellar look) – although they solely use the time period in inverted commas.
The Eurasian Hoopoe doesn’t solely look cool but in addition feeds on the pine processionary moth, a forest insect pest (source). Win-win, aside from the moth.
Some hoopoe people should like chicks loads, even resorting to double brooding. Who’re these weirdoes?
Apparently, the 2 primary elements influencing double brooding are the person high quality of the breeder and the timing of the primary clutch.
Pink-flanked Bluetails make shorter stopovers throughout spring migration (common 1.7 days) than in autumn common 3.4 days). Whereas the conclusion appears pretty established now, the paper nonetheless places it within the ordinary wordy and cautious assertion: “The shorter minimal stopover period of each species in spring could point out a sooner migration than in autumn, suggesting a time-minimizing technique in spring to achieve the breeding grounds as quick as doable.” Additional down within the paper, it is usually acknowledged that “the solar could have risen this morning, which can consequence within the atmosphere turning into brighter throughout daytime”.
When not migrating, some Pink-flanked Bluetails spend their spare time being eaten by Japanese Sparrowhawks, as described here.
Not the worst solution to die, to be eaten by such a sexy fowl as a Japanese Sparrowhawk …
The Handbook of the Birds of the World and its on-line model nonetheless haven’t managed to arrange a species account for the Amur Stonechat – there’s a separate web page for the species, however all the knowledge on there’s for the Frequent Stonechat. Perhaps they’ve determined to boycott species with Russian-sounding names as a solution to protest in opposition to Putin’s insurance policies.
Anyway, the male is sort of beautiful with its black head, whereas it’s typically stated of the feminine that it has a gorgeous soul.
Male Bramblings additionally look very enticing right now of the yr. Their souls are much less enticing, although – in keeping with a paper, in wintering bramblings, when men and women forage collectively, males are likely to forage within the middle of the roost and dominate females of their entry to meals.
Conveniently, the authors of that paper captured the bramblings they measured at their college campus – a great way to cut back journey bills (hashtag #frugalornithologicalresearch), but in addition a warning to bramblings in all places to higher keep away from such locations.
I normally don’t write about nationalists, mammals, Donald Trump, and leaf warblers (effectively, I assume I typically do) – however I’ll make an exception for the Yellow-Browed Warbler …
… and the Dusky Warbler.
It appears to me that the Pink-billed Starling is getting an increasing number of widespread in Shanghai (and apparently additionally in South Korea, see here) – not dangerous provided that it’s fairly a sexy fowl. Although many pictures – resembling this one available commercially for less than USD 25 for private use – don’t present how enticing this fowl actually is. Higher take a look at the one in my submit – it’s higher, and it’s free …
The HBW and eBird appear to disagree on the dimensions of the Pink-billed Starling: whereas eBird describes it as a “medium-sized starling”, the HBW talks of a “massive and social starling”. Perhaps the HBW researchers are smaller than the eBird ones and thus understand the dimensions of the fowl in another way.
Each eBird and the HBW agree that the Black-collared Starling is a big starling although.
It’s not that troublesome to see the critically endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting in Shanghai in autumn. Nonetheless, it doesn’t look practically as enticing then because it does in spring – after I noticed it for the primary time this April.
Evil individuals in Southern China catch the fowl and eat it.
The photograph of a relative of the Gray-capped Greenfinch is featured in an article on how being round birds is linked to lasting psychological well being advantages. If you’re affected by despair, you simply have discovered one more reason to go birding.
For the Manchurian Bush Warbler, eBird exhibits glorious style by deciding on one in all my pictures as the primary illustration.
Additionally as video …
eBird doesn’t appear to be very excited concerning the Buff-bellied Pipit, calling it a “drab songbird of open nation”. I heard that the pipit tried to get a extra favorable assessment from eBird by inviting them to an all-expenses-paid luxurious journey to Indonesia, however eBird refused. Apparently, the requirements of eBird are a bit increased than these of Clarence Thomas.
However after all, Clarence Thomas had an incredible excuse that might undoubtedly have helped different rulebreakers in lots of court docket circumstances (and definitely would have satisfied Thomas himself, had a defendant made such a declare): “I didn’t know the principles”.
There may be additionally a boring video of the fowl here.
The Pink-breasted Flycatcher proven within the photograph under clearly lacks a crimson breast and thus additionally has to in the end be categorized as boring.
What retains the endangered Chinese language Yew awake at evening? (That’s the type of phrasing you utilize when you could have been a administration advisor for too lengthy) Effectively, after all, it’s the dispersal effectivity of various fowl species consuming your fruit. Thus, the Pink-billed Blue Magpie is a favourite amongst these small timber as it’s a good seed disperser (source).
It is usually an excellent disperser for causonis japonica, a vine plant. A paper dispersal of this plant factors out that seed dispersal distance elevated with fowl physique and tail lengths – which certainly ought to make the magpie a favourite.
It additionally seems cool.
Pink-billed Blue Magpies are sometimes eaten by snub-nosed monkeys. The gory particulars are outlined in a paper describing that the monkeys eat the top of the fowl first however reject the wings. That is the type of paper proven to naughty magpie chicks by their dad and mom:
“A sub-adult male [snub-nosed monkey] all of a sudden drove away one other fowl [a Red-billed Blue Magpie ] that was close to him. The fowl escaped into tangled vines … and couldn’t rise quickly from the bottom. One grownup male and one sub-adult male ran over to catch this fowl. The fowl ran erratically among the many thorns. … One sub-adult male caught the fowl when it bumped into him, and right now, the opposite looking males stopped their chase. The captor monkey killed the fowl … by biting off its head”.
Eurasian Woodcocks are more likely to be killed by people than by snub-nosed monkeys. In truth, web sites such as this one appear to supply bundle excursions simply to kill woodcocks. Generally what needs to be restricted to the darkish net could be very a lot out within the open.
In response to one source, one canine used for looking woodcocks is even named after the species – the (in any other case somewhat cute) cocker spaniel (with the “cocker” coming from the woodcock).
On the optimistic facet, two mates of mine independently commented on the video of a woodcock (taken at Nanhui) “A dancing fowl!” and “Actually like its rhythmic dance”.
Apparently, Eurasian Woodcocks have developed their brilliant white feather patches (which as widespread for this weblog submit are usually not really proven) for visible communication in conditions with low gentle – in reality, a study discovered that woodcocks have the brightest white feathers ever measured.
A number of extra birds with out factoids, simply because I just like the pictures: A Gentle-vented Bulbul …
…Swinhoe’s White-eye …
… Chinese language Grosbeak …
… Black-faced Bunting …
… Frequent Kingfisher …
… and Black-winged Kite.
Nanhui additionally has some waders and is now the primary vacation spot for individuals who like to observe each plastic trash and Whimbrels on the similar location. E-book your trip now.
On the similar location, you may additionally get a glimpse of the near-threatened but in addition somewhat boring-looking Gray-tailed Tattler (which apparently has brief toes, as indicated by the species identify of brevipes) …
… and the much less threatened however extra creatively designed Ruddy Turnstone.
Lastly, in my very own compound, only a few meters away from my house, Chinese language Blackbirds are breeding – although with out a lockdown, I’m spending much less time on them this yr than final yr.
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