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Cooling off on the coast - 10,000 Birds
Last week I wrote about the hot and dry conditions that now affect much of the Iberian Peninsula. My own solution when it comes to birding at this time of the year is to concentrate on the coast. At Gibraltar, where I live, I spend many hours at its southernmost tip, Europa Point. If the winds are blowing from the west, the afternoons can be spectacular. As the land heats up, a fresh south-westerly sea breeze sets in. Many birds heading towards the Atlantic, whether migrating or performing feeding movements, are pushed inshore. Sea-watching has always been exciting for me because there is always the chance of something unexpected turning up. It is a bonus but simply standing on top of a cliff feeling the cool sea breeze on your face is sufficient reward. Adult Audouin’s Gulls now passing show heavily abraded plumage after breeding I covered the main species in my 23rd June article “When the sea becomes a desert”. Certainly, the migration of Audouin’s Gulls (Ichthyaetus audouinii) out of the Mediterranean is now gathering pace and it is a great time to observe these birds in their array of plumages, according to age. Europa Point, Gibraltar, has to be the best place to observe and photograph these gulls at close quarters. Juvenile Audouin’s Gull First summer Audouin’s Gull Second summer Audouin’s Gull Third summer Audouin’s Gull Audouin’s Gulls travel in flocks Audouin’s Gulls resting on the sandy beaches of the Strait of Gibraltar Another gull that has become regular and whose numbers have increased in recent years, is the Mediterranean Gull (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus). These also show up, often in family groups, from the east and steadily approach the point before turning south-west towards the Atlantic. Mediterranean Gulls migrate past Europa Point in mixed age flocks Adult Mediterranean Gulls passing Europa Point. Note these birds still retain the black hoods but flight and tail feathers are heavily abraded. Those passing later in the summer are losing the black hoods Mediterranean Gulls gathering in calm waters close to the Strait of Gibraltar Less frequent, but also showing is the Slender-billed Gull (Chroicocephalus genei). If I really want to see these elegant gulls, then I can always drive up to the Atlantic coast and the estuary of the Guadalquivir River where they breed. Slender-billed Gulls passing Europa Point, Gibraltar Slender-billed Gulls breed in the Guadalquivir Estuary Not all birds showing up now are gulls. Two waders pass through in reasonable numbers. These are Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) and Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus), birds coming from the High Arctic in the latter case or from more southerly latitudes in the case of the former. Both are heading for rich wintering grounds off the West African coast. Oystercatchers passing Europa Point, Gibraltar Oystercatchers and Whimbrel on the move at Europa Point, Gibraltar Whimbrel rests and feeds at low tide on the rocky shore below Europa Point Last week I wrote about the Black Kites (Milvus migrans) that are now heading south. With fresh south-westerlies good numbers of these kites are drifted out to sea, east of the Rock. They then make an exhausting flight back in a north-westerly direction to find land. Many evenings I’m watching seabirds and flocks of kites arrive from the south-east and fly north back towards the hinterland. These lucky ones have lived to fight another day, perhaps when conditions improve. I’m sure that many others are not so lucky and drown away from sight of land. Black Kite passage now gathering pace I always go out in the hope of seeing another very special bird that shows up at this time. This is Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae). These are scarce but they do show up consistently in July and early August. They are birds that venture inland in search of concentrations of insects which they feed on prior to moving to their island colonies to breed. Others are non-breeding individuals wandering in search of food. The birds that I see, almost invariably, come in from the south, very probably the Moroccan coast just 21 kilometres away. Eleonora’s Falcon is always a possibility at Europa Point in the summer Sea-watching from the coast is great fun right now and it keeps me cool. Next week I’ll take a step further. In recent years pelagic trips have become increasingly popular and they offer a different window, one of seabirds that have always been out there at this time but that we have never been able to see from the coast. Adult Audouin’s Gull head-on
Birding Tan Phu Forest, Vietnam (Part 2) - 10,000 Birds
In this second post on the birds of Tan Phu Forest, let’s get the bulbuls out of the way first. Three seem to be particularly common here. The Ochraceous Bulbul looks similar to the Puff-throated Bulbul, with which it shares a genus – the similarity made one of my travel companions doubt the whole framework of species distinctions. Even for a bulbul, it is a “bulky, very noisy, conspicuous” bird (HBW). The HBW also indicates that these bulbuls can be hooligans: “Associates in loose noisy parties of 4–8 individuals … often aggressively displaces smaller bulbuls”. Presumably this includes the Grey-eyed Bulbul, a much lighter bird also often seen at Tan Phu. Not a particularly progressive bird – according to one paper primarily looking at molt, only female Grey-eyed Bulbuls build the nest and incubate, while the males do typical male things such as bringing food and defending the nest. This traditional lifestyle fits well with its unexciting species name of propinqua, meaning something like “related, similar, neighboring” – the kind of name unimaginative scientists give to a new species that looks too boring to merit naming it after some famous ornithologist or rich sponsor. The molt of the Stripe-throated Bulbul is the subject of another paper. Interestingly, the molt of the males takes about 20 days longer than that of the females – the authors speculate that this is because of the different peak time efforts in breeding, with the males being involved earlier (singing, establishing territory) than the females (incubating, nestling care). The Streak-eared Bulbul is not a favorite of the influential eBird crowd: a “dull brown bulbul”, not exactly a ringing endorsement. The HBW seems to agree, remarking that the species “has fairly nondescript olive-brown plumage”. That would certainly make for bitter reading for Capt. Paul Conrad (1836-1885), a German naturalist in the East Indies, after which the species is named (Pycnonotus conradi). But he might be delighted in finding a paper about the different vocalizations of two geographically distinct populations of the bulbul – even though most of the paper (except for the abstract) is written in Thai and thus beautiful to look at but rather unintelligible to most of us. There seems to be almost no information on Paul Conrad except that he used his life to get from Leonberg (where he was born) to Bremen (where he died). “You live your whole life just to travel to the place you?re gonna die” (Craig Finn, “Blankets”). The Greater Coucal spends most of its life feeling superior to the Lesser Coucal. However, this offers no protection against superstition. Greater Coucal body parts are used as traditional medicine by the Malays in Kuok Village in Indonesia (source). Traditional wisdom sometimes is massively overrated. Then again, smaller birds might think of this superstition when reading a paper on a Greater Coucal feeding on a Common Myna. An abstract of a scientific paper reads as follows (unabridged): “External examination of free range abandoned dead Greater Coucal in a veterinary dispensary, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India revealed presence of a large sized louse in the feathers and was identified as Laemobothrion maximum on the basis of morphology and size of the louse.” However, if you want to read the complete article, the pdf file costs 40 Euros. I am wondering what additional information could possibly be in there. Maybe some background on the color of the veterinary dispensary, or the birthdays of the authors. Similarly, a story titled “Call of the Greater Coucal” published by Middlebury College Publications is also inaccessible to me, so I cannot comment on its literary or ornithological merit. It starts with the sentence “Noomi wakes up early on Sunday morning because her right ear hurts with a dull, regular pulse.” Not sure if and when the coucal shows up in the story. One of my cats – when approached by me – typically shows one of the two following reactions – licking me or (play-)biting. Red Jungle Fowl spend their active time also almost exclusively on two things, namely ground pecking (60%) and ground scratching (34%) (source). Those Red Jungle Fowl not up to scratch are weeded out by evolution. Only a small number of the most dominant cocks and hens produced most of the adults of succeeding generations. As a result, the genetically effective breeding size of the population was only about 13% of the number of adult birds. While this sounds bad, the authors of this study claim it may be a positive factor in adaptive evolution (basically, the inferior birds don’t get to breed much). If you think this sounds very Darwinian, then that is because it is Darwinian. Who gets weeded out? For one thing, those birds carrying parasites – they are less attractive as mates (source). And those roosters with less red irises and smaller combs (source). In contrast, the courtship behavior of the males did not make much of a difference (source). Given the men some women choose, it seems these results are directly transferable to humans as well. That may not be true for the results of another study looking at personality traits of Red Jungle Fowl over their life. Apparently, these traits are not very consistent, so a chick having certain personality characteristics may have quite different ones as an adult. While this is quite interesting, the scientific terms in which the authors describe their findings serve as a powerful deterrent to casual readers: “Rank-order consistencies of behavioral responses were overall low across independence and sexual maturation”. To my disappointment, eBird does not highlight how cute the White-bellied Erpornis is, only describing it as a “small, crested, yuhina-like bird”. A missed opportunity. For the Indochinese Blue Flycatcher, eBird at least admits that it is an “attractive long-tailed flycatcher” The female. Some of the Siberian Blue Robins seen at Tan Phu looked remarkably shabby compared to the ones passing through Shanghai on migration. Maybe some pre-migration molt? Or just wearing shabby clothes when you...
The Elusive GUIANAN TROGON: A Serendipitous Backyard Encounter - 10,000 Birds
By Fitzroy Rampersad Fitzroy or Fitz as he is fondly called began observing and photographing birds when the COVID-19 Pandemic forced border closures around the world including Trinidad & Tobago where he was vacationing at the time. Fitz used his free time to observe the many hummingbirds in his mother’s flower garden and soon, with the help of the internet he was able to identify the various species. He started putting up homemade feeders to attract the hummingbirds. His interest soon grew to include other species of birds developing a love for wildlife and especially bird photography. For many birders, the quest to spot a specific bird can become an obsession. The thrill of the “chase”, the hope of a fleeting glimpse, and the joy of finally seeing the bird you’ve longed to encounter and photograph are experiences that can make birding a rewarding pass time. As a new birder, I had always been fascinated with the GUIANAN TROGON and while it is a shy bird, it is by no means a rare and difficult-to-find bird, except for me that is … My journey to find the GUIANAN TROGON began in the lush landscapes of my now-adopted home country of Panama, a birdwatcher’s paradise. I scoured the dense foliage of the Metropolitan National Park, trekked through the lush landscapes of the Gamboa and Summit Rainforest, ascended the cloud forests of Cerro Azul, and wandered the serene Valle de Anton. I crossed the border into Costa Rica, spending days high up in the San Gerardo de Dota mountains. But, despite my efforts and reports of sightings from fellow birders, the GUIANAN TROGON remained elusive, always one step ahead of me. The GUIANAN TROGON, quickly became my “white whale”, the symbol of an elusive dream that I could not quite grasp, but little did I know, the moment I had been yearning for was waiting for me … much closer to home. It happened during a return visit to my childhood home in Trinidad, I sat relaxing in the backyard, when, to my surprise and astonishment, there, perched on a fruit tree no more than ten feet away, was a GUIANAN TROGON. My heart raced with excitement and then … uncertainty, should I remain seated and enjoy the beauty of the moment or should I rush for my camera … I finally mustered up the courage to quietly get up and slowly back away, desperate not to startle the bird. I hurried to the house and grabbed my camera, silently praying that the GUIANAN TROGON would not fly away. To my immense relief, the bird was still there when I returned, calmly preening itself as if preparing for the photo shoot that was about to ensue. I spent the next several minutes capturing photographs of this remarkable sight, each click of the shutter a testament to my patience and perseverance. A few days later, I was delighted to spot the GUIANAN TROGON again. This time, it was accompanied by its mate. The pair was industriously hollowing out a nest in an old abandoned ant nest on the branch of a Mango tree. Watching them work together, taking turns, was a sight to behold, a fitting and satisfying conclusion to my long search. Female GUIANAN TROGON The thought of a pair of GUIANAN TROGONS nesting in my backyard left me smiling all day.
Growing up and Leaving the Nest - 10,000 Birds
Standing on the edge of the catwalk, the young hawk lifted its wings and leaned into the wind. Then, it turned around and ran back to the nest. The youngster was finding it hard to leave home. My last article was about the early days of the Red-tailed Hawk nest, which I was watching from our 18th-floor condo. As May turned into June, the activity and antics in the nest continued to entrance me. There was sibling rivalry, with one youngster pecking the other, when it tried to grab a bite of food first. There were tender moments. The female continued to be a devoted mother, brooding the youngsters, even when they didn’t want it. One time, I watched her shove the youngsters down in the nest and then lay over them. Another evening, when they were much larger, she preened one of the youngsters and then snuggled up next to both of them. I rarely saw the male drop off food, but the young were always eating. Black squirrel seemed to be a favoured, prey item. At four weeks of age, I saw the young feeding themselves. It was not for the weak of stomach to watch and sometimes I had to turn away. The youngsters grew quickly. If they weren’t eating or snoozing in the nest, they were preening. Very quickly, they began to resemble their parents, but still with white, fuzzy heads. At five weeks, they were exploring the catwalk. There was much wing flapping, with small hops, which lifted them a little above the nest. As they got bigger and stronger, there was even more action in the nest. Using my scope and her cell phone, our daughter captured them flapping and jumping over each other, in a game of hawk leap frog. By week six, the youngsters looked exactly like their parents. On June 5, I thought one of the youngsters had fledged, because I only saw one youngster in the nest.I saw two hawks perched on the catwalk railing, which was what the parents often did. I realized one was a youngster, when it jumped back down into the nest. On the afternoon of June 6, I checked on the nest. There was definitely only one youngster there. I had missed the fledging of the first one. I checked nearby rooftops, but couldn’t see or hear that youngster. I watched the remaining one throughout the rest of the afternoon and early evening. It was restless and kept wandering around the catwalk. It was flapping and jumping around. The parents fed it around 6:30pm. When I checked on it at 8:20 pm, it was standing on the edge, wings extended. Then, it ran back to the nest. I figured it wouldn’t fledge so close to evening and left the scope for a few minutes. When I returned, it was gone, too. At 8:50 pm, both parents were perched on the railings, which was puzzling. I thought they’d be with their fledlings. After that, I had seen the parents, flying around or perched on the catwalk. On June 11, I found the fledglings. I walked around the base of the chimney. They were on the rooftop of a lower level of the hospital. They must have coasted down there. They were eating, so the parents were feeding them. Their flying skills were still weak. I was glad they succeeded in their first challenge of leaving the nest. After that, I lost track of the youngsters. I only saw the two adults, hunting or perched on the catwalk railing. I just have to hope that the youngsters moved into the nearby ravine and started the next stage of their life. Watching a nest is bittersweet, because you never know the end of the story, for the youngsters who captured your heart. Addendum: My time with the Red-tailed Hawk family didn’t end with fledging. On July 6, I was walking in a nearby ravine. I heard the begging call of a hawk. I believe I found one of the youngsters. It was flying from tree to tree. When I looked up at it through my bins, it looked down on me. The bird turned and twisted its head in every possible way as it studied me. That was amusing to see. On July 20, a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk flew by our condo. It was soaring beautifully. It gave a few, half-hearted, begging calls, but I think it knew it was on its own now. It’s good to know that at least one of them has made it to the next, independent stage. Cover photo taken from Pexels. Other photos by Leslie Kinrys.