The bird to the left of you is majestically called a Gray Treepie, or a Slate Foilage Pastry as I affectionately dubbed it.
Many of you know about my trip to East Asia. Many of also, no doubt, do not anticipate the trip report and have probably forgotten about it seconds after I mentioned it.
To make a short story long, I tried writing a trip report complete with humour, excellent bird photography and detailed information, but it took about seven hours to write the first day and it soon occurred to me that in the time I was taking to write the trip report I could have seen three yearbirds and maybe a Western Screech-Owl.
This is first in what will be a long and lengthy series of EA posts. Enjoy!
Don't let the amusing name of the Himalayan Black Bulbul fool you. Black Bulbuls are one of those deceptively evil birds that fool innocent birders into believing greater and rarer birds are at hand. Then when you actually put your binos up the bird and find out it's another freaking BBB, they squeak at you in a sinister way and say "Haha sucker! No Red-billed Choughs for you!"
Oriental Turtle-doves are clueless and innocent birds. Everyone adores them except for seeds and insects. Just looking into the face of a ORTD will clear all your birdfail sins for the month.
A Red Turtle-dove. The only thing notable about this particularly one is that it seems to be standing very precariously in a dangerous Space-Time vortex and could be sucked in any moment. Who knew RTDs were such daredevils (Seriously, what is with that wall? )?
Black-winged Stilts were scattered throughout rice paddies in Southern Taiwan. How its knees do not suddenly and rapidly cave in is a mystery to me.
Green Sandpipers are delightful birds, but not when they're seen in a heavily cropped picture at full zoom and ISO8000.
A beautiful hot, humid, sweaty, mosquito-ridden suburban Taiwan Park.
If you look hard enough, you can find a Kentish Plover in this picture, something an ABA-er would go cuckoo over back at home despite its very drab plover-ness. Ten bucks to whoever can find it in under five minutes.
Striated Swallows are likable birds. They take long resting periods, which means you can actually procure decent views of them without binos. Not exactly a prime photo but I like the background boards on this one. They're very board-y.
This time, I would get up early. I had resolved myself to get up at 4:30 in the morning so I could go birding and still make it on time to my friend's brother's aunt's sister's birthday party (not really).
Of course, I was hoping to get up at this ludicrous hour so I could study mimicry in California Thrashers at Whiting Ranch, out of curiosity, noble scientific state of mind, and the fact that it would be a cool post on my blog.
Around 2:00 a mockingbird said "Forget about thrashers! Mockingbirds are better," and started partaking in a one-bird rock concert. It finally shut up. Albeit a couple hours later.
At first, this noisy-neighbor-like behavior of mockingbirds was a great annoyance, but then I got to thinking, "Hey, at least I don't live in an area with Common Mynahs!" because Common Mynahs apparently have a screech-like call that turns you temporarily into a zombie, or something like that anyway.
Mynahs (as a genus) reside only in a few tiny patches in the ABA area anyway, the kind of tiny patch that takes an hour and a magnifying glass to be found on a map. And then, not very long ago, a car rolled over the last countable Mynah in the ABA area, freeing everyone in the area from the Mynah Zombie Curse.
So there you have it. I haven't found out anything new about thrasher mimicry but here's a cool (I hope) blog post and a few annoying sounds to go with it.
Disclaimer: I do not intend to hurt or permanently emotionally scar any birds with this post. If you are a very sensitive bird, do not read this post. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, AVES.
Videos may not show up on an iPad. Category One: Annoying
An accurate description of a starling "song" is a tiny cat being repeatedly trodden by an elephant. Multiply that by 50 and you have an idea of what a murmuration of starlings sounds like (HA! A murmuration of starlings? Good one).
Despite their sound being inherently annoying, the mechanics behind a starling flock are actually pretty fantastic.
Listen to a recording of starlings that will make your ears bleed here.
Eastern Koel Why it's annoying: Incessant whistling during the early hours of the morning
An Eastern Koel, or a Common Koel as you Oldsquaws call it (#jokesonlybirdsget), is a cuckoo that appears frequently throughout Eurasian habitats. Think Bronzed Cowbird, except with a more-cuckoo like shape.
This is a bird that has caused many to tear out their earlobes with its incessant poowah whistles. One option is to go outside and yell, " KOEL-SWHERE!" and hopefully the bird will be amazed by how awesome your pun is and leave.
To simulate the effects of the calls of the Eastern Koel, set the below video's audio track as an alarm at 2:00. Also make sure that it is played at full volume and cannot be turned off.
Little Wattle Bird
Why it's annoying: Incessant calling during the early hours of the morning. Loud, obnoxious, raspy call. Having the name Little Wattle Bird, which is a particularly annoying name (I know this is a sound competition, and it's a human's fault, but I had to mention it).
The Little Wattle Bird is a sleek brown honeyeater that will make you wish it had never been born.
Unlike Koels, the Little Wattle Bird has no sense of humor as honeyeaters do, so yelling "Go away and wattle with the penguins with Antarctica," will have no effect on it (partly because that's a horrible pun).
Category Two: Loudest
Three-wattled Bellbird
Apparently you can hear a Three-wattled Bellbird fromthree miles away, landing it in the official Wow, How Onearthdoesthatbird MakEA Super Unusual, Raucous, Exponential, Stupendous, Terribly Happy, Interesting, Splendid, Sock-your-rocks off, Terribly Unique, Fabled, Feared, Astouding, Not Yucky, Wowzers, Amplified, Yodel-like sound Bird Sound Club, or WHO MEASURES THIS STUFF ANYWAY ???????for short.
The awesome sound of the Three-wattled Bellbird is used as a deadly weapon against territorial intruders. Have you ever been sleeping, and it's all nice, and then someone yells in your ear? Amplify that by 30X.
OUCH.
Category Three: Most Versatile Voice Superb Lyrebird
If you thought that annoying 2 AM-singing mockingbird was an impressive mimic (and I'll admit, I've been fooled by that guy multiple times. Once I got hyped up to the point of self-discovered-Code-7 because I thought there was a Pygmy-owl in my suburban yard), meet the Superb Lyrebird.
It's imitated construction building sounds, chainsaws, and cameras. Next thing you know, it'll be the next big pop star in Oceanic music.
Category Four: Most Beautiful
Thrushes
Wood thrushes, as you avid blog readers no doubt know, are a favorite bird of mine because of their haunting, beautiful songs.
Note: After some extensive research on wood thrush voice box use, it has been found, to my not-so-profound disappointment, that there is a pathetic amount of papers regarding how the sound of wood thrushes are produced. The ones I have amassed seem to have a vast amount of contradictions to other articles. I seek to finally relay this travesty in a future post. There will be a lot of text, and maybe even a bibliography. You have been warned.
Wood Thrush
First, I would like to debunk a myth I put in my post back in the ancient month of September 2014.
I could just scream at myself, but instead I think I'll play the call of the koel bird fifty times at full volume.
EVERY SINGLE BIRD has a syrinx. EVERY BIRD'S syrinx has a double voice box. I received this false knowledge from goodness-knows-where.
The post moves on.
Hermit Thrush
Coming This Month:
Bird Palettes
The Science of Thrush Songs
plus a bunch of other posts
Hope you enjoyed this post.
Comments are appreciated!!
-Chiccadee
If you would like a "Birds and Sound: Part Two" and other "Birds and ________ "posts PLEASE comment because I would like to know if you like this kind of post!
Most birders have heard of and know what a "birdfail," is (If you don't already know what that is, it's a birder who thinks every god dang bird is a first ABA record).
Actually, most of them probably don't, because I just made up that word and am launching a pathetic attempt for it to catch on in the birding community (While I'm on that topic, everyone should use the phrase "Mysterylegs," insetad of Tringa sp. from now on. Courtesy of Seagull Steve).
Anyway, most birders probably have (genuinely) heard of warbler neck, a physical condition where your neck becomes sore after looking up at warblers too much.
Dangerous, yes, but not as dangerous as the mental disease Birdfail-itis, a deadly and crippling disease which results in lots of hypothetical birding pain.
This is clearly a Tricolored Blackbird that fell into a puddle of oil and got its wing stained.
RAISE BIRDFAILITIS AWARENESS *This document was verified and approved by the National Birdfail Prevention Society * What is Birdfaili-itis? Birdfail-itis is a mental disease in which the birder falls into an excessive desire to find rare birds. What can Birdfail-itis lead to? If Birdfail-itis is untreated, it can result in either becoming a birdfail, a listserv addict, or Neil Hayward. The first two results are the case 99.999% of the time and therefore Birdfailitis poses a serious hazard to all birding communities worldwide.
Eurasian Magpie (China)
How are we sure this isn't a rare Black-billed Magpie vagrant from the ABA area?
Step 1 Check yourself for Birdfail-itis. Symptoms of Birdfail-itis include:
- Excessive posting of unverified listserv reports
-Studying and excessively photographing Spotted Sandpipers, winter peeps, mysterlegs, wood-pewees, pheobes, catharus thrushes, juvenile robins, first-winter gulls, female ruby-throated hummingbirds, Selasphorus hummers, Yellow-rumped warblers, Pine Warblers, vocalizing Empidonax, immature herons, coots, Song Sparrows, godwits, Red-winged Blackbirds, Long-billed Curlews, House Finches, juvenile Mourning Doves, female/imm. Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, common shearwaters, American Pipits, or Common Terns for for than one hour because that Common Tern might be a Whiskered or some crap, which it turns out not to be 99.9% of the time, leading to the next symptom...
- Experiencing a feeling of heartbreak or disappointment when any bird turns out not to be a first ABA record
-Blaming birds.
-Experiencing the feeling that every birder sees more rare birds than you when the reverse is true or.. maybe not true because you've already become a birdfail and all the listserv posts you make are horrendous mis-IDs
"I know Boat-tailed Grackle is out of range, but you NEVER KNOW." -something someone said sometime
Step 2 Treat yourself. Get the "Birdfailitis Awareness," Treatment Kit for $12345 dollars today! Warning:
- A toy which requires you to tie a knot to use it. Now, stop tying and end toy.
- An egyptian code and a machete to cut it up with. Now, stop birdfailitis before you rune your knife.
- A shedding, furry, cat with too much hair to clean up. Now fur, let it and forget finding all the rare birds, because there are more important things going on in the birding world like the thousands of birds feral cats are killing.
I think this is a Little Egret with pigment problems.
Warning: Post may be offensive to be easily offended people. If you are offended by any of the following. then the Birder General's Warning says to stop reading the post. 1. Duck genitalia
"Do male birds have visible external reproductive organs?"
It's a question many of you have probably been wondering (no doubt without the scientific-ness and with much cruder terms, that won't be used here for obvious reasons).
The answer is most definitely yes and no.
An alarming number of birds, including passerines, lack a...thing. Both sexes possess a simple organ called a cloaca which is just an opening where stuff passes through. Ahem. This lack of fanciness in reproductive systems is made up by the fact that in some passerine species, a single copulation can and often does last for almost an hour and thirty minutes.
Most birds, like this Japanese White-eye, have a cloaca.
A few families of birds, however, do possess a...thing. The most notable are the game-birds, storks, and of course ducks. So guess which single species has the longest "visible external reproductive organ "of all?
Clue: You've probably seen one of these seemingly innocent, adorable, over-
endowed ducks on a lake before.
That's right. The RUDDY DUCK HAS THE BIGGEST PENIS IN THE BIRD WORLD! Did I offend someone by using that word? My sincere indifferences.
...and here's the myth to go with it.
When birds were created, the supreme being-of-whatever-religion-you-believe-in granted all of them a special ability. The peacock got beauty, the herons got assassin skills, crows got intelligence, and eagles got majesty and the power to grab and rip apart other birds. The majority of ducks received the epic ability to traverse on water, land, AND air. Sadly, the Oxyura duck genus (includes Ruddy Ducks) had pathetic feet that would enable it to move on land for a few feet before falling flat on its face and being made fun of by every other single duck in the lake. So the supreme being-of-whatever-religion-you-believe-in gave the Oxyuras an extra huge thing. And all the other ducks on the lake got grabbed and ripped apart by a massive army of 1298 eagles.
OK, fine, I just made that up.
Ducks are famous for having penises.
The Ruddy Duck's thing tops out at the extremely impressive total of 9.5 inches max. The Lake Duck has an even more impressive total but it lives in South America and 99% of us birders have never seen one so it officially doesn't count.
;)
Oxyura's penises are corkscrew-shaped, similar to a drill.
Elegant.
Interestingly enough, extensive research shows that female Oxyuras often have corresponding tracts that don't follow the males' corkscrew shape minutely, which is an aid against forced copulation from the males.
There is probably a plethora of reasons why Ruddy Ducks have such long genitalia, but the main causes for this that are widely accepted by scientists is that the extravagantly long penises developed through competition among males, and that a megalong thing helps increase the possibility that the female's offspring will be his own.
You'll never look at a Ruddy Duck the same way again.
Quite a while ago, I was out on a rowboat in a lake. Not just any lake: a deep, muck-filled, clam-chocked brown-water lake that many people were swimming and fishing in. Personally, I don't like swimming in muddy, murky lakes but apparently those people did.
As I was rowing out, I spotted some white birds far off wheeling in the air that looked suspiciously like terns. They were hovering and grabbing for fish like a tern would do, except something was very amiss about their behavior. The white birds lacked the powerful grace of a tern, blundering and flapping down slowly to the water like an elephant with wings would. And they snatched fish from the surface.
No self-respecting tern would ever try to catch fish like they did.
They turned out to be Black-crowned Night-herons.
Initially, I was astonished but after exactly 53 seconds, I thought to myself, "What's new about herons doing that? Ardeidae are SMART and ADAPTABLE! Remember that viral video on YouTube?"
(Ardeidae is a family of clunky adorable ninja birds that includes herons, egrets, and bittern. Pronounced AR-DIE-DAY, or maybe AR-DI-A-DA, or whatever. Who knows how to pronounce those names anyway?)
Maybe you remember that viral video on YouTube where a Green Heron used bread to lure and devour unsuspecting little fish.
As it turns out, in their maddening efforts to get enough fishy food to constitute a decent meal, Ardeidae (herons, bitterns, egrets) are surprisingly clever.
This guy sat like this for hours. I'm shocked that he/she doesn't have serious back and neck cramps yet.
Above photo: Sometimes a egret or heron will sit with half of their beak open in the water and close it when it touches something, like a stationary skimmer. Most of the time, they get a minnow or two. The unfortunate ones get serious back problems.
Other methods Ardeidae commonly use:
1. Dancer
Really impatient Ardeidae, like the Reddish Egret, want to have some fun while working instead of just standing there and watching like a boring egret would.
Ready.... set....
GO!
Snowy Egret in foreground: "What is wrong with this guy?"
2 . Every Day They're Shuffling
Ever see herons and egrets scuffling in the mud? They're using this method to try to and lure fish in with their maddening dance skills. In reality though, most of those birds wouldn't make it on the first couple rounds of Ardeidae's Got Talent!
Or..... maybe they're just trying to stir up fish and other aquatic animals. I still prefer my theory though.
3. The Average-John Egret/Heron
"I'm watching for fish. Don't disturb me."
** 3 hours later **
** One day later **
Note
If Great Blue Herons were as large as dinosaurs, I'd be terrified of them. They're deadly in the water and out. Ever seen a heron in a grassy field and think "Hmmm, I wonder why that heron is not by the water. He's probably sniffing the beautiful flowers and having fun in the grass "?
Mr. Heron isn't by the water because he's probably stabbing and swallowing gophers.
On rare occasions, herons have been recorded gobbling up other unwary large organisms, like kingfishers. Heck, one was even reported to have ambushed and consumed an entire Little Grebe.
Less qualified assassins, like the Malayan Night-heron, stick to earthworms.
This juvenile Malayan Night-heron forgot to wash his bill again after dinner.
Looks like his parent forgot too.
4. Jurassic Park Status
Some conniving, clever, conspiring Ardeidae, including the familiar Green and Great Blue Herons, utilize bread, leaves. and sticks in their hunting efforts.
It's quite simple. They place the bait in the water and wait for the droves of fish to come.
In particular cases they waggle it in a Leaf Dance to hypnotize and stun the fish with the power of Dark Heron Magic.
Happy Birding,
Chiccadee
Enjoy my blog? Please comment and/or subscribe! (The East Asia trip report is under construction!)
WARNING: Following post contains no pictures and lots of text. Readers who are easily bored may spontaneously erupt at the reading of this post. Proceed at your own risk.
Some of you more astute readers may have observed the recent lack of blog posts. Fear not, I haven't abandoned this project (and will likely not for a while yet!).
For the past 7-9 days I have been busy on a family vacation in Taiwan with my mom (it has quickly turned into a birding expedition with quick stops at more bird-y areas on the side of the road, as all family vacations nowadays do!) and will not be back to my beloved ABA birding area until the end of August.
For you curious folks, the typical counts of a birdy day here are somewhat like this:
1938479173019328401938502 Eurasian Tree Sparrows
1 Black Drongo
1 Oriental Turtle-dove
1 Plain Prinia
1 Common Mynah
0.5 Kentish Plover
...and so on and so forth. You get the idea.
Things are a lot...different... in East Asia in terms of weather and of course time zone. Right now in cozy, DRY California it's around 9-10:00 P.M. Most of you are probably brushing your teeth, petting your pet unicorn, and jumping up and down on rainbows. Maybe you more avid birders are going out for an owling session (actually, I don't know anyone who goes owling at this time of the year).
Meanwhile in 12:10 humid Taiwan I'm sweating my skin off. Every time I step outside it's like walking into the mouth of a sweating lion in Florida while wearing stockings, an analogy to which I'm sure most of you can relate.
Although summer is a "dead," season for birds in East Asia, I will still be doing a trip report! Don't worry, it won't be uninteresting and include boring long descriptions and lists of every single ant, leaf, and Eurasian Tree Sparrow I saw there. I'll sparrow you that bit!
Unfortunately, the free wifi provided in the local 7-11s and Family Marts is so slow that it takes about six hours (NO exaggeration here) for a single one of my 3-5 MB photos to upload on normally speedy Imgur, so to post a trip report right now right here is out of the question.
Heck, it'll probably take 30 minutes for the internet server to process this post.
So I (sincerely) apologize for what has been and will be a prolonged absence of activity on my blog- followers, regular readers, highly intelligent literary Eurasian Tree Sparrows, whoever.
