In a longtime custom reaching way back to 2023, I regard the primary day I see a colourful male flycatcher in Shanghai as my private begin of the migration season. This 12 months, the date was April 11, a couple of days sooner than final 12 months (April 16).
And the birds in query (sure, two of them on the identical day) have been Blue-and-white Flycatcher …
… (eBird gushingly describes the grownup male as “strikingly stunning”, which is true) …
… (whereas the eBird reviewer should have written the part on the species in a bout of despair, because the tune of the fowl is described as “a brief, sad-sounding collection of whistles”) …
… and Narcissus Flycatcher, which eBird appears to price as considerably much less engaging than the primary species (“splendidly coloured” shouldn’t be fairly as enthusiastic as “strikingly stunning”).
A couple of days later, a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher joined. It’s about as yellow-rumped because the Narcissus Flycatcher – the Chinese language identify which interprets as “white-browed flycatcher” is a bit higher at highlighting the distinction between the 2 species.
Extra colourful flycatchers adopted:
Mugimaki Flycatcher (with the feminine trying like a male that has been washed for too lengthy or at too excessive a temperature) …
and the Taiga Flycatcher.
It seems pretty much like the Pink-breasted Flycatcher, however one paper asks “Are you able to inform a Taiga by its tail?”, solutions sure, after which instantly warns you to not do precisely such an id primarily based on just one function. Nonetheless, I assume the reasonably catchy title makes it worthwhile.
Different species in the identical esthetic vein (smallish, cute, colourful) included the Siberian Rubythroat.
And sure, it’s nonetheless arduous for me to not take photographs of this species any time I encounter it – despite the fact that this month this occurred very continuously.
The male Siberian Blue Robin has a fabulous blue colour shut to what’s known as Prussian Blue, which was the uniform coat colour worn by the infantry and artillery regiments of the Prussian Military. It’s produced by oxidation of ferrous ferrocyanide salts. Studying irrelevant issues whereas studying about birds. Apparently, in 1958 Crayola modified their Prussian Blue crayon to Midnight Blue as a result of they realized nobody knew what Prussia was – you do now.
Of the feminine, the web site Birds of Singapore says that it “resembles male however has greyish-brown upperparts”, which is an odd means of stating that its colour is totally totally different.
In 2006, some Russian authors described a brand new subspecies (nechaevi) with some important variations from those beforehand described: “The second main feather of L. c. nechaevi shouldn’t be shorter than the sixth main feather. The coloration of the fowl subspecies is especially much like that of L. c. bochaiensis, however differs within the wider distribution of darkish areas on the physique sides.” Hmm, does that persuade me?
Right here’s a Bluethroat.
Be aware the masterful match of the blue plastic with the colour of the fowl on this shot. I’m at all times making an attempt to disgrace China into lowering its environmental air pollution however with fairly restricted outcomes up to now.
Within the subsequent days, the Bluethroat stayed however Chinese language fowl photographers took over my authentic website of discovering the fowl. Now, you’ll be able to see the male standing on a pleasant pile of moss. All of the trash is both below the moss or at the least exterior of the view of the digicam. Coping with environmental air pollution the Chinese language means – genius!
The moss hill apparently was so engaging that the Bluethroat even got here throughout heavy rain.
If you’re poor, chances are you’ll solely be capable of afford fairly substandard bluethroats.
A male Japanese Robin would have match higher on this collection, however the feminine can also be engaging and fairly troublesome to see in Shanghai in spring.
For those who criticize the paler colour of the feminine Japanese Robin (and even point out it), I’ll accuse you of being a misogynist.
The Brown-eared Bulbul is sort of frequent in Japan however a lot much less so in Shanghai. Apparently, in Japan some fowl watchers don’t notably like bulbuls as they scare the opposite species away – right here, being a single particular person, this bulbul didn’t dare to bully every other species.
Right here’s what ChatGPT says concerning the Oriental Scops Owl: “The Oriental Scops Owl is a captivating species with distinctive diversifications that enable it to thrive in its surroundings. Its small dimension and glorious camouflage make it a difficult fowl to identify within the wild, however its distinctive calls usually reveal its presence.”
Sadly, they by no means appear to name when in Nanhui, and they’re certainly troublesome to identify. Each that I noticed at Nanhui this month have been neglected by at the least 95% of fowl watchers …
Marsh Grassbirds appear to be common with Shanghai birdwatchers (and presumably birdwatchers basically) despite the fact that (or as a result of?) they are often arduous to see and even more durable to {photograph}.
However they make for good copy for sensationalist broadsheets – if this sentence from a examine is suitably rephrased: “The sudden disappearance of a nesting male from his territory made the neighboring male develop his authentic territory to the vacant space the place the unrelated nestlings have been being reared by a feminine within the nest. The male discovered the nest and attacked the unrelated nestlings. We inferred that the infanticide sequence was achieved as meals useful resource competitors and/or sexually chosen infanticide.”
As I didn’t need to do the enhancing myself, I requested ChatGPT: May you rephrase and shorten this passage in order that it seems like an article in a sensationalist newspaper?
And sure, ChatGPT did: “Territorial Drama: Fowl Dad Vanishes, Neighbor Strikes In and Assaults Nestlings! In a stunning flip of occasions, the sudden disappearance of a nesting male songbird left a major piece of territory up for grabs. The neighbor didn’t waste any time—he swooped in, discovered a nest with unrelated infants, and attacked! Specialists imagine it’s both a vicious battle for meals or a darkish twist within the quest for mates.”
Guess who wrote the HBW entry for Alstroem’s Warbler? Sure, it was none aside from Per Alstroem. Appears a bit North Korean model to me to call a fowl after its discoverer after which have the identical individual write about it, however it appears to be shameless shouldn’t be the unique prerogative of Mr. Trump.
A quick paper in the Journal of the Pure Historical past of African Birds factors out shoddy analysis that ended up describing the Eurasian Pastime as a “hunter of nightfall and daybreak”. It isn’t.
One other paper hypothesizes that the Eurasian Pastime has “false eyes” in the back of its head, very like the Collared Owlet. Sadly, my photograph doesn’t illustrate this in any respect.
Listed here are some photographs with none annoying phrases:
Brambling
Gray-capped Greenfinch
Blue Rock Thrush
Black-collared Starling
Black Drongo
Hair-crested Drongo
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Black-winged Stilt
Manchurian Bush Warbler
Asian Stubtail
Chinese language Pond Heron
Eurasian Hoopoe (moist morph)
Some endangered species:
Black-faced Spoonbill
Far Japanese Curlew
Chinese language Egret, with a recognized world inhabitants of solely about 2,600-3,400 birds (supply).
Apparently, this fowl enjoys intercourse exterior of established relationships however much less so with its formal associate. Or to cite instantly from the supply: “Observations performed in 2003 at Xing-Ren Tuo in Liaoning Province indicated that the species had a low within-pair copulation frequency and a comparatively excessive extra-pair copulation frequency.”
Different elements of the summary additionally learn like tutorial descriptions of pornographic motion pictures: “The prevalence of extra-pair copulations depended upon the absence of the cuckolder’s mate and the cuckolded male”.
This Little Ringed Plover shouldn’t be endangered however is clearly having a nasty hair day.
Many thrushes usually are not notably elegant birds – consider Pale Thrush – however the Japanese Thrush is.
Some male Japanese Thrushes appear to interact in morally questionable habits – in keeping with the HBW, “Polygynous males have been present in Japan, sustaining main and secondary territories (singing areas) and making daybreak journeys and even a number of daytime journeys to those areas”.
As at all times, it’s the feminine of the species affected by this habits.
Black Redstarts are uncommon in Shanghai (in actual fact, this was the primary one I’ve ever seen right here) however not so in France.
The males there (and elsewhere) sing in numerous microdialects, and curiously, males are extra aggressive towards singers sharing their very own microdialect. Sadly, at the least the summary of the paper doesn’t give a speculation as to why that is the case.
There may be additionally a distinction between the tune of grownup male Black Redstarts and that of subadults – perhaps an indication (an “sincere sign”, in science-speak) by the subadults that helps them keep away from dreary old-man gatherings in smoke-filled pubs …
In sure poses, the Eurasian Wryneck seems like a harmful snake.
In others, extra like a sock puppet.
In keeping with an article in Nationwide Geographic, when spooked, Eurasian Wrynecks certainly “bend and twist their head back and forth, usually whereas hissing, to mimic a forest snake”.
This snake-like habits additionally led to the idea that they’ve some magical powers – sadly, these days we don’t suppose that anymore, preferring to imagine in Bitcoin.
Among the many varied buntings of the month, the spotlight was this Chestnut Bunting. A troublesome fowl to get a good photograph of – I do know, photographers say that of many species (provides them a higher feeling of accomplishment), however eBird appears to help this declare: “Small, shy bunting, often seen by way of a display screen of thick shrubby vegetation in low, dense thickets”.
Do you sleep properly when the sunshine is on? If not, you’ve got one thing in frequent not solely with me but additionally with stated Chestnut Bunting. A Chinese language examine discovered that synthetic mild delayed the time till the birds fell asleep, diminished sleep period, and elevated the frequency of awakenings.
The quantity of disturbance additionally is determined by the colour of the sunshine – the authors hopefully conclude “The examine highlights the potential of adjusting spectral compositions of sunshine supply to mitigate the disturbance of synthetic mild to avian sleep”. Good luck telling a Chinese language metropolis to vary the colour of its mild bulbs …
Listed here are a couple of extra buntings earlier than Shanghai strikes into the bunting summer season break:
Black-faced Bunting
Tristram’s Bunting
Yellow-browed Bunting
Little Bunting
Yellow-throated Bunting
The put up ends with one other magnificence, the Black-capped Kingfisher. Sending photographs of it to an American good friend and birdwatcher bought the next response: “It’s grossly unfair that Asians even in massively industrialized landscapes have nice kingfishers. North American kingfishers simply don’t measure up.”
Certainly, decoupling is not going to be straightforward for People, at the least not within the space of kingfishers.
Because of S.R. for the title. The second a part of it, to be exact – the primary half I might nearly come up by myself, thanks very a lot.
