Turquoise Reflections

How do birds engage with mirrors? Do they see in their own reflection, a rival, an encroacher who needs to be driven out, or a playmate?

Last week, in the little town of Dewathang in south-eastern Bhutan, I found myself in a small roadside lodge. As soon as I entered my room I saw something moving behind the curtains - it was this small bird with its brilliant blue plumage glinting in the evening sun. 

The last time I had seen such a bird was through a pair of binoculars. This time I was just a couple of inches away, looking through a glass-pane with a reflective film on it. The bird kept fluttering against the pane, stopping every now and then, to look intently at itself until darkness set in after sunset.

Do these birds get excited / agitated only when they are looking at reflections on the vertical plane? Are they tuned to ignore reflections on a horizontal surface such as a puddle or pool or water?

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LINKS & REFERENCES

* Old World Flycathers - https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/chats/

* Verditer Flycatcher - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verditer_flycatcher

* Verditer - from old French verd de terre - 'green of the earth'! - https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/verditer

Nature Watch on the Kugti Trek

Its amazing how the flora and fauna changes in the Chamba Valley, as you ascend from 10,000 ft to 16,500 ft. It starts with compulsive greenery, a riot of colorful flowers and the chirping of unseen birds in the pine forests, then, as you climb, the vegetation first thins down to the bare minimum, and then to none at all.

Here are some of the scenes we managed to capture along the way.

A Monitor Lizard basks in the sun. As you cross Kugti village and trek towards the Kaylong Kartik Temple, they seem to be all over the place - basking in the sun, staring at you warily atop boulders, or just slinking out of the way quietly. 

Why are they so numerous in the vicinity of the village? Is it because of insects that are attracted to the terrace crops? 

Wagtails of all kinds! 

When you are driving from Bharmour towards Kugti you can see them swooping and diving in front of the vehicles. These are mostly Citrine Wagtails with their distinct pale yellow undersides. Beyong Kugti, you see two others: White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) with- white wedges around their eyes, and 

the White-brown Wagtail (Motacilla maderaspatensis), the ones with slick white 'eyebrows'.

Tiny glossy leaves, red berries, cushiony on rocks - Cotoneaster microphyllus (Bhedda)

 And the ones that are yet to be identified:

Yellow flower with a hundred needle like petals - Inula grandiflora (Daisy family)

Captain Sparrow

Has there really been a shap decline the population of House Sparrows in India? In our corner of the National Capital Region (Noida) evidence points the other way.

This summer our home seems to have become the favoured destination for a variety of creatures. A couple of squirrels have claimed the space under a bedroom airconditioner; A pigeon laid two eggs on another window ledge, a tennis-ball-sized honeycomb nest on the foyer roof is home to family of yellow wasps, and the fourth corner of the house is the domain of Captain Sparrow and his family.

Three years ago, four organisations - BNHS, MoEF, NCBS and NCF -  had launched a two-month campaign to build public awareness on the disappearing House Sparrow. While participating in the nation-wide "Citizen Sparrow"survey I had pointed out that, at least in Noida, there was absolutely no shortage of this little bird. They were all over the place - in the hedges, on the Arjuna trees, and all over the local vegetable market. 

As if to reinforce this data-point, Captain Sparrow landed on one of our windows that just would not close. In this gap, safe from the prying claws of crows, rats and black-shouldered kites, it started making a tentative nest. At first it was a shoddy piece of work and none of his girlfriends were impressed. He then added a roof, some extra furnishings, and got steady with one. 

First it was a single, tiny, speckled egg. 

A week later there were three more.  

All four eggs went out of sight for a while until one morning we discovered that there were two plump little chicks in the nest. 

Every morning they made a huge racket and Captain and his wife seemed to be perpetually going to and fro getting them things to eat. If any of us approached the nest for a peek, the chicks would quickly backtrack in to the deepest corner, turning themselves completely silent and invisible against the straws and twigs.

Then, as suddenly as they had come, both the chicks turned into young ladies and flew away. So that was that we thought, time to clean up the window sill and settle down for some peace and quiet. 

We then went off on a three week holiday in mid-May. When we returned home in the June, not only had Captain refurbished his hangout, it was now a plush nest with two more chicks! 

So in just one summer, our window sill has been a maternity ward that has seen four baby sparrows fly out into the world.

Will Captain Sparrow come back again next season? We hope so!

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LINKS

* Citizen Sparrow - http://www.citizensparrow.in/
* India Searches for its missing sparrows (2012) - http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/india-searches-for-its-missing-sparrows/article3287189.ece
* Citizen Sparrow Survey Report (2013)

Birding Tips from Bharatpur

In 1938 a hunting party led by the British Viceroy, Linlithgow killed 4,237 birds in one day at Bharatpur. From the look of it, the bird sanctuary is yet to recover from the assault.

Keoladeo National Park does has its bright side, even on cold foggy mornings. Despite the poor infrastructure and facilities, the guides are quite sharp with their spotting scopes. If you find the guides too expensive at Rs.250/hour, the rickshaw drivers (Rs.100/hr) are quite good too.

Plastic bags and packaged eatables are banned in the park. At the far end of KNP, you find a tea stall that stocks biscuits and chips but if you decide to buy a flex-packet, the shopkeeper neatly empties its contents into an less-than-glamorous looking newspaper-envelope before handing it out. So he keeps the packet and you get the chips!

A few other travel tips:

• Ashok hotel is the best location - it built right inside the park. However, you cannot drive your car in... getting there needs the help of rickshaws
• The best way to go around is on bicycles. The best ones are usually rented out as soon as the park opens at 6:30 AM... almost none are available by 10AM
• Take your own snacks (eco-packed), flask along...there is practically nothing available inside
• The Memento shop has nice pullovers and jackets
• The surrounding countryside has lots of birds too (like the Sarus Cranes atop)

The Tastiest Fish

An excellent TED talk starring the stand-up comedian + chef + scholar, Dan Barber.



...and this is the 'fish-farm' he talked about - Faro, Southern Spain

The Right Swallow

What a remarkable coincidence!

Just the day after I struggled to identify an unusual, elegant bird perched on an electric line, it turned up as the IBC bird-of-the-day!

Wire-tailed Swallow

Pic by Sid Adhikari
Source: Internet Bird Collection - http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/wire-tailed-swallow-hirundo-smithii/sitting-dead-tree

Sunday Birds

How many birds can be spotted on a Delhi summer morning?

White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrensis)

Indian Robin

Rosy Starlings??

Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus)

House Sparrow

Ashy Prinia

Crested Lark (female)

Purple Sunbird (male)

Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)

Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis)

Others in the spotted-but-not-shot category:

• White-brown Bush Robin (Tarsinger indicus)
• Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala)
• Indian Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros birostris)
• Common Hoopoe (Upupa epops - wonder what the Latin means?!?)
• Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea)
• Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)
• Indian Swiftlet (Collocalia unicolor)
• White-rumped Needletail (Zoonavena sylvatica) 
• Hume's Owl (Strix butleri) --- not sure: to be confirmed
• Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis)
• Yellow-footed Green Pigeon (Treron phoenicoptera)
• Shikra (Accipiter badius)
• Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus)
• House Crow (Crovus splendens)
• Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)
• Asian Brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa dauurica)  --- not sure: to be confirmed

Birds Around Ichinoya, Tsukuba

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Attempting to identify and list the birds around Ichinoya-Pond, University of Tsukuba, Japan...

PASSERINES (Perching birds)

• Green Pheasant (Male) May 2010: The National Bird of Japan. Quite stunning when you see it up close.

• Green Pheasant (Female) May 2010

• Durian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus)  

 

•  Black-backed wagtail or Kamchatka/Japanese Pied Wagtail, with its distinct black eye-stripe. (pic source: Wikipedia Commons) 

•  Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)  - spotted near the central library, TsukubaU. (pic source: Wikipedia Commons)

Others - 

• Ashy Minivet
• Japanese White Eye (Zosterops japonicus) 19 Jan 2011 - Stunning, sprightly little fellow - especially when it is lit-up by the evening sun!
• Eurasian Siskins
• Grey Starlings
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow - Always in flocks of 20-30 birds...you don`t realize they are on a tree until they suddenly decide to scram!
• Brambling 
• Stonechat
• Pied Kingfisher
• Dusky Thrush (Turdus eunomus)
• Crowned Willow Warbler
• Green Pheasant 
• Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrocopos kizuki nippon)  
• White Wagtail  
• Forest Wagtail 
• White Wagtail 
• Bull Headed Shrike
• Winter Tern
• Grey Starlings / White-cheeked Starling (Sturnus cineraceus)
• Common Raven (Crovus corax)

NON-PASSERINES

•  Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)

• Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) May 2010

• Mallard, or Wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
• Japanese Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capillatus)

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LINKS

• List of Passerine (perching) Japanese Birds - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_birds:_passerines
• List of Non-Passerines - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-passerine_Japanese_birds
• Photo gallery of Japanese Birds - http://www.big.or.jp/~shimpset/
• Birds of Japan - http://www.tsuru-bird.net/japan/

Summer Fauna

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An attempt to identify folks that creep, crawl and fly about in Tsukuba University...

Snake-in-the-grass with a bite (or peck) that went right through the skull. Most likely to be a rat-snake (scientific name - Elaphe carinata yonaguniensis; common name - Yonaguni-Syuda).

Links:

• Jap-Rep: Encyclopedia is Japanese Snakes -  http://homepage3.nifty.com/japrep/snake/namihebi/elphe/text/eyonasyu.htm
•  Snakes of Japan - http://homepage3.nifty.com/japrep/snake/ejaphebi.htm
• Wiki - Japanese Rat Snake -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Rat_Snake

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 One on the fist and about a dozen inside. "Dango Mushi" is apparently the current favourite with kindergarten kids - at least until the bigger beetles make their appearance.

• English common name - Woodlouse or Pillbug (because it can roll itself into a perfectly round "pill" when disturbed)
• Scientific name - Amadillium vulgare

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 Strikingly colorful bird, eyeing the photographer with cautious disdain...

This one turns out to be Japan's "national bird" - the Green Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus versicolor)

...and the dour looking female.

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yet-to-be-identified

 

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