Excerpts from Birder's
Corner - Bird News
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The
Endangered Lesser Adjutant and Greater Adjutant
Storks
The
Adjutant Storks are rare these days. Cambodia still clutches small
groups of these gangly birds, but that could and probably will change in the
near future. There are stories of villagers taking advantage of the
size of these avian meals to fill their bellies or their wallets.
That's one threat to their very existence and one that is very
unfortunate. It's hard to get angry about people who are just trying
to eat. Still, there are other ways to fill one's belly.
 Another
threat, oddly, is tourism. Makeshift
zoos are increasingly more popular throughout
Southeast Asia. Untrained in proper animal
care, most zoo personnel do little more than feed
and water their detainees. Many animals
suffer and die needlessly.
The future of many species depends on educating the public.
Please, don't contribute to the suffering of wild animals by supporting
zoos. Birds are meant to fly freely, not to spend their remaining days
waiting to succumb to death.
These Lesser Adjutant Storks spend all day
in the blazing sun,
their captors hope to make money from the passing
tour boats.
Unfortunately, Greater Adjutant Storks are extremely
rare.
The
Leafbirds, Ioras, and Fairy-bluebirds
 The
bright, mostly green Blue-winged Leafbird
is difficult to spot when it's eating fruit, nectar,
or insects. It's feathers are the same color
as most leaves here. The easiest way to
spot one, and the way I usually end up seeing
them, is to catch them in flight.
Leafbirds
and Ioras used to be classified together taxonomically speaking. They have recently been separated. Leafbirds are now classified with
Fairy-bluebirds.
 Ioras
are mainly insectivores. The Common Iora (pictured
here) and the Great Iora are common residents,
spread profusely throughout the Kingdom of Thailand.
We occasionally see the Common Iora in the mangrove
forests, though they are not really supposed to
be there. When we do happen to see one,
it's usually not along. Mangroves offer
a superb habitat for a very wide variety of birds.
Some birds that don't normally visit mangroves
can occasionally be seen there. It's always
a special treat for us.
 There
are two species of fairy-bluebirds in the
world. Thailand host one species, the Asian
Fairy-bluebird. I used to see it frequently
when I lived in Krabi from '93 to '95. They
are getting less and less common in the field
and more and more common in the cage. Cursed
by their beautiful brilliant blue feathers, they
are becoming a prize for many bird 'collectors'
unfortunately It's song is impressive also.
Over 2,000 years ago, Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu
recognized the usefulness of uselessness in birds. Beautiful birds and
birds with lovely songs were the ones that ended up in cages because they
were somehow useful to humans. Little
brown birds that didn't sing well were free to live their lives as normal
free spirits.
Photos printed by permission from
Asia Books
5 Sukhumvit Road, Soi 61
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Tel: 00 662 391 2680
Fax: 00 662 391 2277
The
Colorful Bug-eating Bee-eaters  These
gregarious aerial insectivores are
mostly greenish,
with a mixture of other colors. They resemble
jet fighters in flight with their sharp lines
and pointy wings. They are easy to see usually,
since they wait on exposed branches for unsuspecting
insects to fly by.
They
nest in burrows in a dirt bank or directly on the ground.
There are 24 species of bee-eaters globally. Thailand hosts 6 of them. The most common
bee-eaters in southern Thailand are the Chestnut-headed and the
Blue-tailed. The Blue-throated is very uncommon; I've never seen
one. The Red-bearded Bee-eater is also very uncommon, but I saw one a
few years ago while paddling through a lovely limestone canyon in Krabi.
Photo printed by permission from
Asia Books
5 Sukhumvit Road, Soi 61
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Tel: 00 662 391 2680
Fax: 00 662 391 2277
Nightjars
This aerial
insectivore comes out during the twilight
hours and beyond. It flies around in search of
flying insects with the intent of catching them
in the air. Nightjars have huge gaping mouths
to assist them in catching their prey. They have
whiskers to sense bugs that are off target. A
quick head adjustment and the prey becomes a meal…
or at least a snack.
 Nightjars
nest directly on the ground. Their
plumage makes the extremely difficult to see.
Couples usually use the same nest site year after
year. They spend their days either on the ground
in small depressions or perched lengthwise instead
of crossways on branches.
There are 78 species
of nightjars globally. Thailand hosts 6 of them.
The most common nightjar in southern Thailand
is the Large-tailed Nightjar.
Photo printed by permission from
Asia Books
5 Sukhumvit Road, Soi 61
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Tel: 00 662 391 2680
Fax: 00 662 391 2277
Sleeping
In the past, ornithologists
have pondered about sea-going and other bird's sleeping
patterns. They would watch swifts heading out
to sea shortly after sunset. The swifts would
return the next day. Through research and investigation,
they found that swifts could take short cat naps
on the wing. Soaring allows swifts to shut down
parts of their brain for brief periods.
Most birds still sleep at night. They need daylight to feed.
This would include almost all seed-eating birds and the majority of
insectivores too. Of course, night-hunting birds such as owls depend on the cover
of darkness to conceal their location.
A lot of wading birds don't pay any attention to the light or dark.
They rely on low tide to expose the mudflats. That's where they find
their meals. So, they sleep at high tide and feed at low tide irregardless
of the time of day.
A
surprisingly good place to go birding
  In
early October, we went paddling in Phuket around the
various ponds of the Phuket Laguna group of 5 star
hotels . To my surprise, I saw Lesser Whistling Ducks,
Common Moorhens, Purple Swamphens, Brown Shrikes,
White-breasted Waterhens, Yellow-vented Bulbuls, Common
Kingfishers, White-throated Kingfishers, a couple
juvenile Yellow Bitterns, and Little Herons!
Plus, I'm not exactly sure which harrier I saw since
the sun was shining behind where it was perched, but
we sat and watched it pulling it's recently caught
meal apart while perched in a ironwood tree. All of
this is right in the middle of a bustling tourist
area. There's a road right beside the pond.
Notice the big feet on the Purple Swamphen and the
Pheasant-tailed Jacana. Several birds have adapted
to walking on floating vegetation. These are
rather large birds, so the often have to walk quickly
to prevent sinking their floating platforms.
The
Migration Champion
 The
Artic Tern travels back and forth between the
North Pole and the South Pole. This tern spends
more time in daylight than any other animal in
the world. But, the Bar-tailed Godwit is the migration
champion. It spends its summers in Alaska and
winters in New Zealand. That's 10,000 kilometers
(6,000 miles). What makes this feat the most amazing
is that it does the trip non-stop! It has never
been spotted anywhere in between these locations.
Bird
Brains
 The
term 'bird brain' didn't get coined due to the
Great Tit. They, along with crows and other birds,
are capable of solving problems. When faced
with a task such as getting a nut hung from a
string on a branch, the Great Tit will alternate
grasping the string with its beak and its feet.
This gradually brings the nut close enough so
it can eat it.
Great Tits seem
to be rather astute students too. There
was once a problem in the UK with milk bottle
caps being pierced by these birds. In a school
in Surrey, they were caught damaging close to
60 milk bottles in one morning!
But don't think
that these birds are not nice to have around.
Farmers should rejoice in seeing tits in their
fields. A Great Tit will eat about 8,000
caterpillars and other harmful insects during
their three week child rearing period.
The Special
Feet of the Woodpecker
 Woodpecker's
feet have adapted to climbing and gripping tree
bark. Having two toes facing forward and two facing
back is called zygodactylous.
Woodpeckers also have strong tail feathers which
they use to brace themselves on trees while pecking
for insects.
Thailand has 36 species of woodpecker. It's
easy to pick out woodpeckers in flight.
They fly in a pulsing movement. Meaning,
they'll flap for a bit, then glide with their
wings closed.
The Respiratory System
Bird
lungs are certainly out of the ordinary.
Birds have the uncanny ability to breathe in and
out at the same time. This allows songbirds
to sing continuously without stopping to take
a breath.
Hummingbirds can fly at 60 mph, yet the can hover
with enough accuracy to thread a needle.
They can also fly backwards. There are no
hummingbirds in Southeast Asia unfortunately.
There are plenty of other beautiful nectar-eating
birds such as sunbirds and spiderhunters.
These birds also spice up their meals by eating
some insects and, as their name suggest, spiders.
Is
that a hummingbird?
Many people insist that
they've seen hummingbirds here in Thailand. Unfortunately,
they're wrong, but you can't blame them. There is a
moth that looks very, very similar to one. It hovers
around flowers, sucking in nectar through a long proboscis.
The Circulatory System
Birds require substantial amounts of oxygen and
nutrients for their flight muscles. They also need an
extremely efficient heart and vascular system. A bird’s
heart is 50 to 100% larger and stronger than an equivalent sized
mammal’s heart. Birds have unbelievably fast heart rates.
A sparrow’s heart, for example, produces a resting heart rate of
over 500 beats per minute! Hummingbirds make that look slow.
During cold weather, their heart rate is even higher to maintain a
body temperature of between 100 to 107 degrees Fahrenheit.
The
Cuckoo's Egg
There are parasitic and non-parasitic cuckoos. Non-parasitic cuckoos lay their eggs in
their own nests and raise their own brood.
 Parasitic
cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other species
for that species to raise. That’s interesting enough,
but the plot thickens. Not only do they do this,
but they also match the size, color, and even the
shape of the other mother’s eggs.
The male cuckoo has the easy life. His job is
to go around fertilizing as many female cuckoos as
he can. The female, on the other hand, works long
and hard. She has to scour the area to find the nests
of other birds. She has to learn the nesting patterns
of the other birds so she can visit their nests when
they aren’t around. The other birds might not know
they’ve been tricked, but they can count. If an additional
egg miraculously appears in their nest, they’ve got
to know that something is up. So, the mother cuckoo
has to push an egg out of the nest so that the other
mother sees the same number of eggs. She goes trough
this whole scenario as many as fifty times per year.
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Bird Facts
By migrating between the Arctic and the Antarctic, the Arctic Tern
stays in sunlight more than any other living creature on Earth.
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But how can a female cuckoo match color, size, and
shape? It hard to know for sure, but
research shows that if a female cuckoo was raised by a certain species, she
will likely look to lay her eggs in that specie’s nest. This is likely a very important part of her
ability to match eggs. Evidently, the
males gene’s characteristics are not as influential.
Frigate Birds
Frigate Birds, like all birds, use air currents and pressure to assist in flight.
They always catch fish heading into the wind. Their wings are not waterproof. If they happen to land in the water, they might drown. Doing a water-start is not an option.
Frigate birds are pirates. They will steal another bird's meal, even after it has swallowed it. They often grab the victim's tail and hold on until the food is regurgitated!
Eagles
Eagles can't rotate their eyes in their sockets very well. But, the can move their head almost all the way around.
Owls
Owls can find their prey in complete darkness. Their eyes are in a cone shaped area. This allows them to collect sound more accurately. It's like when you cup your hand over your ears to hear better or when sound people at a football game use a dish to focus sound onto a microphone.
The left/right direction is detected by the timing of the sounds as they arrive at the ears. When the owl moves its head, it can detect the sound arriving to both ears at the same time. This means that the prey is directly in front of the owl.
Asymmetric "flaps' in front of the ears allow the owl to discriminate up/down sounds much the same as the let/right mechanism.
Owl eyes don't move in their sockets. Their heads, however, can rotate 270 degrees.
'Getting
Light for Flight'
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Frigatebirds
soar the open seas and coastlines of Southeast Asia. Their wingspan is
close to 2 meters. Did you know that the bones of a frigatebird are
actually lighter than the weight of its feathers?
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Bird bones are not like ours. They are hollow with reinforced braces laced into the hollows for strength. In fact, their bones are very strong due to the triangulation of
Bird bones are not like ours. They are hollow with reinforced braces laced into the hollows for strength. In fact, their bones are very strong due to the triangulation of the braces.
Certain organs that are paired in other animals are reduced to a single organ in birds. Birds, for example, have only one kidney.
Hornbills are one of the most fascinating birds
in Thailand. They nest in some of the biggest trees in the
jungle. They have a very unique way of do this. The
female seals herself in a tree hollow using feces and regurgitated
food. She forms a small slit in the tree. This keeps
predators out, such as snakes. The male feed the female and
their babies through the slit.
Interestingly, the mother and babies usually
place their rectums up to the slit when they defecate.
 Rodents,
a highly prized meal for most owls, have an acute sense
of hearing as do many prey species. So, how does
an owl 'sneak up' on a mouse? The secret lies in the
owls feathers. Flapping wings make noise. The leading
edge of the primaries (flight feathers) have comb-like
protrusions that muffle the wing's sound during flight.
In addition to this, the entire body of the owl is covered
with small velvety feathers that aid in dampening sound.
Molting is something that birds have to do from
time to time no matter how much care they give to preening. During the molting
period, old feathers become loose and new feathers eventually push their way out
replacing the old ones.
Young birds go usually go through several
molting. When they reach adulthood, they get on a regular schedule. Molting
normally doesn't occur too near breeding or migration times. The majority of
songbirds molt after the breeding season. There are exceptions to everything of
course. Some birds actually stop molting to migrate, then resume molting in
their new territory. The time it takes to molt varies from species to species.
Plus, some species molt more than once a year.
Ducks and geese do it a differently from most
species. They shed all of their flight feathers about the same time, then
replace them quickly. Needless to say, they are very vulnerable at this time.
They usually take to hiding.
Perching birds make up the largest order of
birds – Passeriformes. They have a very unique way of locking
their feet into place. In fact, perching birds can sleep while their feet are
clamped to a tree branch or telephone wire. How do they do this?
 They
have a mechanism which locks their toes in place.
As they crouch down and bend their legs, the tendons
running to their toes tighten and force the toes to
close. There are actually grooves which the
tendon ‘ratchet’ into place. It’s kind of like
a pair vise-grip pliers. It takes the voluntary act
of straightening the bird's legs to release the grip.
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