A few weekends ago, my friends Dave (who was, by the way, the photographer of the wild Cut-throat Finch I posted before) and Misha (who watches girls rather than birds) invited me to go climbing with them in San Bernardino National Forest. Dave had asked me, “Have you climbed before?” to which I replied “I’ve climbed trees.”

A woodpecker’s tree which I did not climb at San Bernardino National Forest, 3 October 2009

After some instructions on strapping and buckling and knotting and forcing my feet into strange, toe-curling kletterschuhe, I climbed.

Dave took these. I’d say that this is a pretty good look for me, especially in the photo on the left.

Upon descending, I found a warm rock, the surface of which was conveniently complimentary to the curvature of my spine, on which to lie. I watched the other climbers and gazed at the sky, and I could have fallen asleep if it were not for a suspicion that piercing through the wind bursts, I was hearing birdsong. Finally, I turned around and cocked my neck, and my suspicions were confirmed by a slight, flapping silhouette emitting the “scolding chick-a-dee call.”

I had first spotted a Mountain Chickadee when I was at Joshua Tree National Park. Nevertheless, having already seen one did not stop me this time from running off with someone’s down jacket, scaling rocks, and crouching in shrubs in order to harass this feathered one who had practically invited me to follow him.

By the time I returned to the climbing rock, the sky had been transformed. We decided to leave promptly, but not before Dave had a chance to shed some blood on the rock.

The wind-driven San Bernardino forest fire was apparent and somewhat alarming, considering the high speed winds, 3 October 2009.

On the way out, from the roadside, I spotted Western Bluebirds (Sialia Mexicana)! I begged Misha to stop the car. If we were to be seared or smoked, I wanted at least to see the Bluebirds!

The risky delay was worth it, especially since it was not really so risky. We learned later that the fire was on the other side of the I-15, anyway.

When I repeatedly noticed that the crucifix on the wall seemed to hang obliquely a day or so after I remembered straightening it, I began to suspect either poltergeist or severe foundation issues. Then it occurred to me . . .

29 September 2009

Since the blessing of Bulbulicious on the feast of St. Francis d’Assisi two years ago, it can be said that she seems to be clinging to faith inappropriately, these days.

Since I announced the successful hatching of the blue eggs, I wanted to share more about the details of their “habitat.”

Janine, the hen, and her mate , Helios, had been free-flying in an extra bedroom furnished with a faux ficus tree for the past couple of months. They are known to be polygamous, but I had reason to suspect that a full harem was not requisite.

This is Helios, looking like a very papal bishop indeed.

When I was still living in the apartment, Helios and Janine were flee-flying, when I noticed the first egg. I mentioned before that the egg-laying seemed to correspond with my observation that Janine was feeding on the Zupreem AvianMaintenance™ Cockatiel pellets that I was intended for the Bulbuls. The first egg was a big surprise to me! I had no idea that any of the species in my flock were capable of producing such sprightly colored gems. I doubted that any of the eggs would be fertile, considering that Janine and Helios rarely interacted under my observation.

At some point, I had hung a quarter-spherical basket to dry on a door stopper that was positioned at a top corner the front door. Janine took immediate interest in it, though it seemed an unreliable nest site (and it was not intended for her at all). When I left the apartment or came home, not every time, but most times, she fled the nest as I entered or exited through the front door. She always returned faithfully, and she managed to hatch a chick, nevertheless, proving that Janine and Helios did have a furtive physical relationship after all. Unfortunately, the chick did not survive.

This lone chick did not make it. The chick lived not more than a few days after which I found the body of the chick cast out of the nest, 19 January 2009.

After that episode, I removed the nest basket, for Janine’s own good. She was obviously melanistic after her spell of dedicated egg-laying. I moved out of the apartment, and while I was settling in the new place, Janine and Helios were caged with some Zebra and Bengalese Finches for some time. When I noticed that Janine’s plumage had been restored, I decided to turn them lose in the spare bedroom (a.k.a. the “bird room”). Just in case, I hung a bamboo nest in the faux ficus tree, and I scattered some dried grass and coconut fibers around the room. I was amazed at how quickly they took advantage of these offerings.

Within a week, I noticed two little blue eggs in this nest. As it turns out, that first clutch was probably not fertilized.

So you may be wondering, why would I offer the master weaver a pre-woven nest? Euplectes of Euplectes nigroventris is derived from Greek, meaning well-plaited. In the apartment, Helios proved adept at weaving, but he was rather too much of a dissatisfied perfectionist. He would weave a fine nest, and Janine would settle in and oviposit a vibrant blue egg. While Janine seemed to accept the accommodations, Helios was unwilling to commit. He would disassemble the nest and start building at another site with the same material. And Janine was forced to abandon her little blue investment. I suspect that Bulbulicious also assisted and perhaps motivated the project of disassembly.

This time, I noticed that some unfinished weaving projects appeared and disappeared while Janine laid two more eggs and incubated them dutifully. She would leave the nest only when I approached too closely during the daily chore of changing water dishes and filling seed cups.

Her patience and dedication were not in vain.
All feeding responsibilities fell on Janine, 6 September 2009.

When not begging for the meal, fledglings always seem to lack enthusiasm, as if bodily functions are just too energetically demanding for them to afford any kind of lust for life, 7 September 2009.

The elder (by a couple of days) chick was looking so independent after only 3 days ex nido, 7 September 2009.

Just when I thought that I was omni-aware of all examples of “avian foam,” I learned something new, this week. Foam is found in the interior of the Toucan and Hornbill beaks, in the skull of Woodpeckers, and in the medulla of feathers. Those are more specifically avian examples of cellular solids, a sub-class of foams that are exclusively solid-fluid systems. But what most people consider to be foam is of the liquid-gas system such as that atop their glass of beer or the morning latte.

Apparently, Japanese Quails (Coturnix japonica) produce foam from their unusually pronounced dorsal-cloacal muscular gland system. “Reproductively active male Japanese quail produce a large quantity of a stiff white meringue-like foam that is transferred to the female along with the semen during copulation and also is deposited on top of the excreta during voiding.” ^{Seiwert & Adkins-Regan} (In case you missed it, you just read the words “meringue,” “semen,” and “excreta” all in one sentence).

These three foam “puffs” were manunally expelled from reproductively active male Quails. Is this sexier than Hornbill beak foam? ⓒ Seiwert & Adkins-Regan 1998/Brain, Behaviour and Evolution

Those who keep and breed Japanese Quails may have already known about this foam (e.g. the photo posted by Quail Gal), but I just found out totally accidentally. I happened to spot the word “quail” in the index of Universal Foam by Sidney Perkowitz. He writes of the “reproductive froth,” as he called it, again reinforcing that inappropriate meringue comparison, “[i]t begins as a clear viscous liquid secreted by a specialized gland, which is whipped into froth by rhythmic contractions of a sphincterlike muscle, much as as rigorous beating turns egg whites into meringue.” Furthermore, electromyographic monitoring revealed heightened dorsal sphincter cloacae muscle activity which accompanied increased foam production when the male was presented with a female, even behind a screen.^{Seiwert & Adkins-Regan}

It is great that Sidney Perkowitz also threw in the phrase “rigorous beating” in his treatment of the topic, because that is not all that is rigorous. K.M. Cheng et al. reported that based on in vitro observations, in all cases during which foam was not mixed with the quail semen, sperm motility decreased within 3-5 minutes of deposition onto optical microscope slide and ceased withing 10 minutes. When foam was added to the semen, the sperm remained “vigorously motile” after 45 minutes. The authors noted that spermatozoal motility was observed still in one sample after 95 minutes under the cover slip at room temperature.

The reproductive foam is nothing personal, but it is specific. Semen samples were mixed with foam secretions of the same donor as the sperm and of other donors as well, and the results were that any Japanese Quail’s foam would do.^{K.M. Cheng et al.} However, mixing quail froth with chicken or turkey semen either did not affect sperm motility or fertility or possibly adversely affected motility (according to the M.S. thesis of one of the co-authors of the study). Turkeys produce a cloacal foam their own which was not found to affect motility of sperm.^{Fujihara et al.} Among accessory reproductive fluids in birds, the case of Japanese Quail is unique in that the foam is produced constantly, released simultaneously with seminal ejaculation, and it helps by increasing and prolonging spermatozoal motility.

With the power vested by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on 22 June 2009, the FDA on Monday banned kretek and all flavored cigarettes with the suspicious exception of mentholated cigarettes. Kretek-worthy shall be the new “sponge-worthy.”

While in the case of Today^® Sponge there might have been arguable just cause for removal of the product from the market, there is no valid nor relevant reason for banning distribution of kretek. Now, I see clearly how one of my, albeit seldom indulged, personal freedoms can go up in smoke. Although, I suspect that kretek could still be found on eBay^® long after the ban is enforced. Still, this is unacceptable.

DISCLAIMER: FinchWench does not recommend, encourage, nor condone smoking for Bulbuls. Although, captive Starlings who enjoy playing with cigarettes do not seem to suffer from any adverse reproductive effects.

+++ UPDATE (29 September 2009 – 22:54): If you are interested in affecting repeal of the ban, please join either the Facebook group or the LiveJournal community. Legalize Kretek! +++

One night, while I was working at the table beneath Bulbulicious’s nest site, I witnessed a suspicious event. At about 1:30 after midnight, I heard a rustle from Bulbulicious in her nest, and then I spied her carrying something in her beak as she speedily flew out. I followed the little courier into the bird room where she had already dropped her package.

Embryo of White-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis) found dead-in-shell, 16 July 2009

This Bulbul rests in peace with an unfeathered wing behind the head.

Bulbulicious did not delay in disposing of the remains. Her actions were swift and almost robotic, at that point, and perhaps they should be lest the health of the rest of the clutch be compromised. I, on the other hand, took some time both to mourn the loss of the Bulbul (or at least, the cluster of cells that looks much like a Bulbul chick) who never came to be and marvel at the delicate packing of the late stage embryo in the egg.

I made a shocking a discovery while changing the water dishes for the Fan-tailed/Red-shouldered Widowbirds (Euplectes axillaris):

Premature feathers are vascularized.

It is a blood feather, which has been removed from the follicle. Though it looks gruesome, it was a merciful extraction; had the feather ruptured elsewhere, especially along the proximal end of the rachis, there would have been profuse bleeding.

Little Dracula is not happy about the loss of his feather. 5 August 2009

Since then, I have moved him and his bride to a larger enclosure, where they hide from me behind a hanging basket of faux foliage. I have seen them looking longingly out onto my unkempt yard, and I understand that I must somehow create a sanitary or at least maintainable simulant of a moist Afrotropic grassland in order to make them feel at home.

I do not wish to recount the story of how I acquired these birds, but considering that they were undoubtedly picked up from an import station, the blood is on my hands, not only floating in the water dish. They are extremely skittish, in general. I was relieved to see that Dracula had taken to some weaving project, at the bottom of his flight cage, which is as I had read it should be. And the “alleged” hen, who seemed to have a damaged wing at first, has made a complete recovery in my custody. Still, my habitat provisions are lacking.

The female Fan-tailed Widowbird also appears to be moulting, based on pin feathers emerging along the crown. 5 August 2009

The species does not seem to be popular in aviculture, as I find little more than field guide descriptions. Is anyone out there familiar with care and accommodations of these spooky weavers?

Do you remember those blue eggs?

I found these here and there in the bird room.

Janine, the mother, transports the fractured eggshells to the opposite side of the room, as far from the nest as possible. Interesting, Bulbulicious does the same, as well as Niko Tinbergen’s gulls, but I do not understand why they do not consume the eggshells in order to hide the evidence and replenish calcium in one effort.

Regardless of my failure to understand the eggshell disposal strategy, Janine seems to be able and successful, raising a clutch of two.

Hatch date: ~20 August 2009; Fledge date: 5 September 2009

Of course, mealworms are requisite for chicks, and here Janine prepares to feed.

In addition to mealworms, I know that Janine also eats Zupreem AvianMaintenance™ Cockatiel pellets. She first enjoyed access to them when I left a dish of pellets out for the Bulbuls, and that is when the enthusiastic egg-laying began.

A new Bulbul has been discovered in the limestone karst of Laos. Not since the Grey-eyed Bulbul (Iole propinqua) in 1903 has a new Asian Bulbul been described.

Presenting the Bare-faced Bulbul (Pycnonotus hualon):

♀ Bare-faced Bulbul © I. Woxvold/Forktail

According to BBC, “[i]ts inhospitable habitat, far from any human activity or settlement, may explain why this unusual creature has evaded researchers until now,” but I am guessing that is not the only reason. This is the sort of bird that turns heads . . . the other way. It may have been spotted as early as 1995, actually.

The new Bulbul has been classified, assigned not only to the family of Pycnonotidae, but also tentatively to the genus of Pycnonotus, based on morphological and behavioural characteristics alone. Bill and tarsi morphology and rictal and nasal bristles as well as the vocalizations, including “whistled, dry bubbling notes” and “churring” were used to justify the placement of the new species.^{Woxvolde et al.}

Hualon is the Laotian word for “bald-headed” but also applied to shaven head. The holotype description includes: “the predominance of loose, hair-like filoplumes (mostly un-barbed) along the mid-crown.” So the look is more like that of a finely groomed Mohican or punk. But “the presence of extensive pale blue periorbital and loral skin and orange-pink skin on the rear sides of the head and below the eye to the malar area” is definitely more of a Glam Rocker phenomenon. Neither punks nor Mohicans were fanatical about blue eyeshadow.

And here, we have the Bare-chinned Bulbul. The holotype features a bare, or stubbly chin, and a pronounced frown depicting discontent with ex nido life, in general.

Just kidding. This is a juvenile White-cheeked Bulbul one day after fledging, 8 June 2009

While we welcome a new Bulbul to the taxanomic family, we might as well welcome a new one to the nuclear family!

While visiting friends, I enjoyed their backyard birds. A pair of Hooded Orioles (Icterus cucullatus) had set up their nest site beneath a Banana Tree leaf.

3 May 2009, Hooded Oriole nest in a residential area near Balboa Park

The male stood out as the agitated and nervous sentry, defending the territory against pesky Towhees in the area.

And he remained vigilant until sunset.

A couple of weeks later, I visited again, and I was happy to see (and hear) that Orioles were successful.

20 May 2009

Both he and the hen frequented Lisa’s hummingbird feeder, but at this moment there was a need for protein.

While we enjoyed our dinner on the patio, he hustled to find the dinner for his clutch. He did not seem to be bothered by our presence.

Move over, Snowball! The late and great Alex might be turning in his grave. In case you have not been following, a review of the high profile psittacine dance scene has already been well-written and the topic covered extensively in the media. Now, there is a new star on YouTube, and he is taking you to Tookie Town:

This is Tookie, my mother’s cockatiel, dancing to “Teknochek Collision” by Slavic Soul Party.

In addition to the traditional choreographic reportoire including claw tapping and head bobbing, Tookie has got some mad wing-spanning skills on the dance . . . err . . . knee. Perhaps Nymphicus hollandicus could be number 15 on the list of parrot species who have got rhythm? In any case, he earns extra points for original style, and the judges approve of his coach’s choice in music.

I heard them before I was certain that I had seen the signature red wing. Numerous Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) have taken up the west side of the Shedd Aquarium and surrounding gardens as their nesting territory. I did not expect to find them in such an urban habitat, but apparently the coast of Lake Michigan is just marshy enough. And I should have known to look for them. Red-winged Blackbirds of Chicago made news last summer, bad news.

This guy served as sentry for the nests (pluralized since they are polygynous) in the hedge below. I watched him attack Seagulls whose flight path was cutting too close to the his genetic investment. 13 June 2009

This male showed no signs of attack. He was quite tolerant of a paparazza.

The females were in general less bold than the males. They seemed to be “all business,” having nests to tend and no time to pose.

On 27 May 2009, a White-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis) hatched. Boris and Bulbulicious are now proud (and very defensive) parents.

Fledge date: 7 June 2009

While I usually save the crushed eggshells for my birds, I decided to share some with the garden, a few weeks ago, having already invested some long hours in the sun into what I hope will blossom into an attractive hedge. About a week later, while watering the plants and glossing over the pigmented shards of chicken eggshells scattered about, I suddenly became aware that one of those shell fragments was not like the others.

16 May 2009, an avian contribution to the garden

The bluish tint and the dimensions lead me to believe that it is a Starling’s egg. Indeed, Starlings abound at the new homestead.

And what better day than Bird Day to resurrect this blog?

Well, it has been a while. I moved. This was not like the time when FinchWench migrated from LiveJournal to WordPress. This time, it was more like I took up all of my precious sticks and twigs and shiny objects and moved them to a new nest box. It has been exhausting, because the new nest box is not new at all and requires a lot of remodeling and reconstruction (and I had accumulated rather too many shiny-to-me objects; some call it “hoarding,” but I prefer to think of it as Bower Bird Syndrome).

On the upside, there is a yard, so the birds now come to me.

27 February 2009, in my backyard or at least on the property line

The insectivorous birds enjoy my unkempt yard after a rain. He is the Audubon’s Warbler (Dendroica coronata auduboni), unlike the one I saw on campus at the end of last year.

Boris stays up late for some satire. 27 September 2008

“Critics of the bailout plan say it will save Wall Street, while it would do virtually nothing to help out Main Street. And, as always, you’re on your own, Martin Luther King Boulevard.”

Professor N.B. Davies, in his text, Dunnock Behaviour and Social Evolution, opens with words of Rev. Francis Orpen Morris, Irish Ornithologist and Anglican vicar:

“Unobtrusive, quiet and retiring, without being shy, humble and homely in its deportment and habits, sober and unpretending in its dress, while still neat and graceful, the dunnock exhibits a pattern which many of a higher grade might imitate, with advantage to themselves and benefit to others through an improved example.”

It seems that the vicar misspoke of the Dunnock (Prunella modularis).

I cannot help but wonder if this is some precursor to oral sex in birds, or maybe in this particular case, he just wants his kidney back! © John Alcock/Animal Behavior

Apparently, the sexual escapades and tensions of some^* of the Dunnocks were carried out in the hedges unbeknownst to Rev. F.O. Morris. For the breeding season of some of the beloved songbirds, which he so touted as the avian role model for his parishioners, is a frenzy of mating conflicts, infidelity, pursuit and revenge against forbidden lovers, paternity tests, and other such affairs that should not fill the days of the lives of ecclesiastical Christians.

While the male guards his mate carefully, she solicits attention from other males as soon as she escapes his surveillance. As Professor Davies writes, “This provokes endless chases around the territory and sometimes a female might mate many times each hour with two males, each apparently battling for paternity of her brood.” And if she slips away for a moment or seems to have had suspicious company, he protects his investment: pecking at her cloaca for about a minute stimulates evacuation of a small droplet of sperm mass, likely a deposition from her other suitor. And this activity is a requisite component of the pre-copulatory display.

Despite all of the aggression and precautions or perhaps as a scourge upon the sinners, the Dunnock’s nest is a host to a parasitic Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Though the Cuckoo’s eggs are very much distinguishable from the small, blue eggs of the Dunnock, the Dunnock accepts this foreign egg. And the intrusion of the Cuckoo is fatal to the clutch of the Dunnocks, as upon hatching, the Cuckoo chick casts nest-mates out of the nest.

^* In fact, Dunnocks have a highly varied breeding system. There are monogamous, polyandrous (two males and one female), polygynous (two females and one male), and polygynandrous (many males and females) subsets in a population, and it is not so uncommon that parents, as a trio rather than the traditional pair, raise a clutch together.

Last year, I got undies for Christmas.

Bulbulicious’s 1^st Christmas, 24 December 2007

‘Tis the season for just that. After the uncharacteristically heavy rains in San Diego, the insectivorous birds have a feast. I spotted a Yellow Rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata) just outside of the laboratory. I had seen them before on campus but was never so fortunate to capture a photograph. This was the first time for me to see one loitering in the courtyard of the engineering building.

18 December 2008 just outside of the laboratory

Unlike the Western subspecies, Audubon Warbler (D.c. auduboni), he had a whitish (or at least non-yellow) throat and a white eye-stripe. These are features of the Myrtle Warbler, the nominate subspecies. The only record of occurrence of the Myrtle Warbler in San Diego County that I could find was for the Alaska Myrtle Warbler (D. c. hooveri).^SDNHM

Surveying the building

Yellow coloration of plumage is by carotenoid pigmentation,^{Hill and McGraw} which must be acquired from dietary sources.

Showing off his best side

Yellow Rumped Warblers are primarily insectivorous, but they are seasonal frugivores. The Myrtle Warbler, particularly, is one of a few species to consume wax myrtle or bayberries during winter months, when insects are less available.^Stiles The specialised and relatively rare ability to digest high molecular weight, highly caloric, non-polar lipids of epicuticular wax affords the Myrtle Warbler endurance to winter in more northerly, cooler climates than other American warblers.

Caught mid-hop

But this guy seems content to enjoy insectivory in post-rainy sunny San Diego, for now.

He headed upstairs in order to check out the office space.

A retired Berlin man was found to be sharing his one-bedroom flat with at least 1500 roommates: Budgerigars. That is an order of magnitude too many, even by my standards. Local veterinary services made the discovery when responding to complaints by neighbours about noise and odor.

There were no cages. The birds at least enjoyed free flight about the quarters, which were crowded and unclean. © Spiegel

Veterinary service workers spent seven hours netting up the budgies. And there was not sufficient vacancy for them in local shelters, so some of the birds were transported to shelters in neighbouring towns even.^Lenta.ru

Allegedly, the man gradually acquired and bred the birds until apparently supersaturating capacity of his flat.^AP © Spiegel

Remarkably, the birds appear to be healthy for the most part, and obviously, they were breeding quite successfully. It was mentioned in at least one press release^Lenta.ru that the veterinarian, Margrit Platzer, had not observed evidence of disease, except that they suffered from parasites. I think that ectoparasite infestation (i.e. by mites) was implied. Because of the litter, the flat was deemed uninhabitable even for humans,^AFP and the now displaced elder Budgie enthusiast could face charges of endangering the life of animals.^Lenta.ru

According to Wolfgang Apel, president of German Protection of Animals Alliance (Deutscher Tierschutzbund), such cases have been on the rise recently, and he added that in the past week alone, 160 animals had been rescued from private residences in boroughs of Berlin.^Spiegel. The pensioner initially purchased the birds allegedly “because he felt lonely,^AFP” but I would think that a handful of those noisy and talkative little parrots is already more than sufficient to quench loneliness in the flat.