Cat Tien Nationwide Park is a protected space roughly 150 kilometers north of Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, and on weekends, it appears to be fairly an attraction for younger upper-middle-class Vietnamese. The younger women amongst them appear to be fairly eager to apply their English on Western foreigners carrying heavy digicam tools, which is sort of flattering and makes for an gratifying expertise.
To enter the park, it’s a must to purchase a ticket and use a ferry to cross a river. A flock of Vernal Hanging Parrots, presumably a bit in need of money, thus stayed in a flowering tree on the non-protected aspect of the river.
The male has a blue spot across the throat, which the feminine (largely) lacks.
Like all 13 species on this household, the Vernal Hanging Parrot can sleep the wrong way up, giving the household their widespread identify, hanging parrots (supply).
An article in BirdingASIA describes how a scheme to guard the Vernal Hanging Parrot round Kaeng Krachan in Thailand developed into establishing chicken blinds which nonetheless exist at present.
The concept was to incentivize farmers to not hunt or catch the parrots and as an alternative revenue from paying birdwatchers.
Zebra Doves, being extraordinarily widespread, additionally really feel no must enter the precise park. “That could be a place for the extra upmarket species”, they inform me of their typical barely self-deprecating method.
Nonetheless on the incorrect aspect of the river, Widespread Ioras have been straightforward to see within the vegetation only a few meters exterior of the resort entrance.
The scientific identify Aegithina tiphia might or is probably not derived from Tiphys, the pilot of the Argonauts, or his birthplace, Tipha in Boeotia. Tiphys died of a mysterious sickness or presumably a snakebite – the medical information of his dying are now not obtainable.
A pleasant poster with good pictures of Widespread Iora nests will be discovered right here.
As soon as contained in the park, Black-and-red Broadbills are sometimes the primary species to be seen.
eBird calls it “totally unmistakable”, presumably in a optimistic means, however is kind of unfavourable about their vocalization: “Voice is nasal and usually unpleasant-sounding, consisting of strange low mechanical rasps.”
One other main downside of the species is their utter lack of talent as a builder of chic nests – see right here for a photograph. Evaluating this equal of a third-rate slum dwelling with the elegant nests mentioned in Sara’s current publish may make you weep.
Whereas most of Cat Tien NP is forest, some huge comparatively open areas give guests an opportunity to see the Inexperienced Peafowl.
Partly, these open areas could also be the results of intensive use of defoliants reminiscent of Agent Orange in the course of the Vietnam Conflict.
The individuals concerned on this “Operation Ranch Hand” known as themselves Ranch Handers and labored underneath the motto “Solely you’ll be able to forestall a forest”. Because the herbicides used have been sprayed at as much as 50 instances the focus for regular agricultural use, they actually achieved their targets.
The Inexperienced Peafowl is listed as Endangered, with an estimated general inhabitants of about 10,000–20,000 mature people.
The principle risks come from looking and habitat disturbance (supply).
On the optimistic aspect, the Inexperienced Peafowl doesn’t appear to thoughts the presence of people or livestock an excessive amount of. A paper even discovered a optimistic affiliation between inexperienced peafowl incidence and free-ranging home cattle and goats.
Whereas I don’t suppose a lot of faith, a minimum of in elements of Thailand, Inexperienced Peafowl profit from it. Because the birds are domestically revered because the companions of Buddhist monks, inflicting them hurt is strictly taboo. Consequently, they’re hardly ever hunted as they’re in different elements of their vary, and accumulating their eggs is each unlawful and culturally shunned (supply).
These open areas are additionally habitats for different birds – a stunning sight was a Chinese language Francolin.
Apparently, the meat of the Chinese language Francolin is tastier, juicier, extra palatable, and richer in protein than rooster meat (supply), so there’s a business francolin business in China.
And as soon as there’s an business and there are earnings, the well being of the animals concerned turns into a critical challenge, leading to analysis and papers with titles reminiscent of “In vitro synergistic impact of baicalin with azithromycin in opposition to Staphylococcus saprophyticus remoted from francolins with ophthalmia”.
One other species utilizing these open areas was a Rufous-bellied Eagle, a primary for me. It’s listed as Close to Threatened, a surprisingly low class given {that a} world inhabitants estimate by BirdLife Worldwide signifies solely 1000–10,000 people.
Its scientific identify Lophotriorchis kienerii honors Louis-Charles Kiener (1799-1881), a French malacologist (malacology is the research of molluscs, however I needed to look this up too). Why on earth one would identify an eagle after a zoologist lively in a very totally different space is a thriller to me.
As normal, in the course of my longer publish, I take a brief break and simply present you some pictures of different chicken species. Sooner or later, as soon as the celebrity and popularity of 10,000 Birds has elevated, these pictures might be changed by paid promoting.
However within the meantime …
… Ashy Drongo …
… Abbot’s Babbler …
… Crimson Sunbird …
… and Buff-breasted Babbler.
As typically, the eBird description of the Golden-fronted Leafbird is each participating and spot-on:
“Fantastically-colored bulbul-sized chicken which manages to fade into the inexperienced foliage”.
A paper reviews on the invention of a fancy, three-dimensional crystal known as the only gyroid inside the feathers of the blue-winged leafbird … after which makes use of a Golden-fronted Leafbird as an illustration. Bizarre.
In case you like horror films (I don’t), you may take pleasure in taking a look at pictures of a Racket-tailed Treepie consuming a munia. Or you’ll be able to simply think about the scene from this description: “The Treepie struck one of many munias with its beak, whereas the opposite munias escaped. Shortly afterwards the Treepie carried its sufferer in its beak to a perch in one other tree. Right here the Treepie pinned the prey to the department with its left foot, and stabbed at its nape with its invoice, presumably to kill it. Over the following 7 min, it plucked the feathers of the munia’s chest and stomach earlier than eradicating and ingesting its inside organs”.
It’s a stunning chicken although, lending itself to illustrations reminiscent of this one.
Fortuitously for its survival possibilities, it doesn’t appear to thoughts dwelling near people – these pictures have been taken in bushes only a few meters away from my resort.
Having simply praised eBird a bit earlier, I discover the characterization of the Higher Coucal as a “chicken that resembles a cross between a crow and a pheasant” much less convincing.
As I already said in my publish on the Pink-crowned Crane, chicken intercourse will not be essentially very enticing or esthetic. For the Higher Coucal, one description by an observer reads like this: “They then joined one another and mated on a department. This concerned numerous effort and precipitated some tail feathers to interrupt.”
Whereas in China, the Higher Coucal is protected (China Nationwide Safety Class 2), this doesn’t cease individuals from looking them. A paper on looking of birds on Hainan even offers a value for them – 5 RMB per piece, although provided that the paper was revealed in 2011, costs is perhaps increased now. The looking is primarily for meals reasonably than for the pet market.
The paper particularly mentions the Higher Coucal’s recognition amongst hunters as it’s extensively consumed in Hainan as a supposed tonic and likewise being soaked in native alcoholic liquor to provide a standard Chinese language drugs. Not such a civilized nation, a minimum of in some features.
The White-rumped Shama additionally suffers from looking, although not for meat however for the songbird commerce.
Surveys throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam between 2007 and 2018, discovered 8,271 White-rumped Shama on the market in native chicken markets, and one other 917 have been discovered on-line (supply).
One purpose is that it is likely one of the hottest caged birds in locations reminiscent of Singapore due to its stunning track (supply).
Unusually, the HBW report on the species relies on observations in Hawaii, the place the chicken has been launched. American birds appear to be extra equal than different birds.
White-rumped Shamas is perhaps a bit braver than another birds – one paper reviews on a feminine White-rumped Shama defending its nest from a Cantor’s Kukri snake by pecking at it, driving the snake away.
In keeping with the paper, that is totally different from the habits of different birds: “Compared to findings of a direct response of different passerines fleeing nests upon snake incursion and subsequent anti-predator assaults, the feminine shama on this commentary attacked the snake predator instantly at its first look on the nest.”
