Aggressive Opinions: June 2010

In continuation to my earlier article .......

(Do post your comments in the end of the article)

Situation 2 -

You are stuck in Island for long and you get to take only 10 species of Birds. Which ones would you like them to be?

Rule –

1. You have shelter, food etc etc. You have list down your ‘Top 10 birds’ entertainment / beauty wise only as in your Top 10 birds of all time.

My call on a list like that is as follows. I like to call it ‘The Fab 10’. ‘Fab 10’ stands for birders pinnacle, the best 10 birds across continents with beauty as the only parameter.

(Note – In this ‘Fab 10’ list, birds are not in any particular order)

1. Indian Peacock / Peafowl

Truly a National Bird.

Prominent in many cultures, the peacock has been used in numerous iconic representations, including being designated the national bird of India in 1963. The peacock, known as Mayura in Sanskrit, has enjoyed a fabled place in India since and is frequently depicted in temple art, mythology, poetry, folk-music and traditions. Many Hindu deities are associated with the bird, Krishna is often depicted with a feather in his headband, while worshippers of Shiva associate the bird as the steed of the God of war, Karthikeya (also known as Skanda or Murugan). In Buddhist philosophy, the peacock represents wisdom.Peacock feathers are used in many rituals and ornamentation. Peacock motifs are widespread in Indian temple architecture, old coinage, textiles and continue to be used in many modern items of art and utility. In Greek mythology the origin of the peacocks plumage is explained in the tale of Juno and Argus. Charles Darwin wrote to Asa Gray that the "sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail , whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!" as he failed to see an adaptive advantage for the extravagant tail which seemed only to be an encumbrance. Darwin tried to develop a second principle of "sexual selection" to resolve the problem.

Adult peafowl can usually escape ground predators by flying into trees. Leopards are however able to ambush them and in some areas such as the Gir forest, peafowl are common prey. Foraging in groups provides some safety as there are more eyes to look out for prey. They are sometimes hunted by large birds of prey such as the Changeable Hawk-eagle and Rock Eagle-owl. Chicks are prone to predation. Adults living near human habitations are sometimes hunted by domestic dogs or by humans in some areas (southern Tamil Nadu) for folk-remedies involving the use of "peacock oil".

2. Black Necked Stork

This bird shows the beauty of BLACK as a color. The Black-necked Stork, Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a widespread species, which is a resident breeder in southern Asia and Australasia, from India east to New Guinea and the northern half of Australia. In Australia, it is also given the common name Jabiru in Australia. It is spectacularly plumaged. The head, neck, wing bar and tail are jet black, with the rest of the plumage white. Sexes are identical except that the female has a yellow iris, while the male's is brown.

3. Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

If you have to see numerous shades of blue, black, pink, orange, yellow, red all in one, theres no better bird then Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. The Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher also known as the Black-backed Kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca) is a species of bird in the Alcedinidae family. Small red and yellow kingfisher, yellow underparts with bluish-black upperparts. This is a widespread resident of lowland forest. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Republic of India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. The preferred habitat is small streams in densely shaded forests.[3] In southwestern India, it begins to breed with the onset of the Southwest Monsoon in June. The nest is a horizontal tunnel up to a metre in length. The clutch of 4-5 eggs hatches in 17 days with both the male and female incubating. The birds fledge after 20 days and a second brood may be raised if the first fails. The young are fed with geckos, skinks, snails, frogs, crickets and dragonflies.

4. Scarlet Macaw

The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is a large, colorful macaw. It is native to humid evergreen forests in the American tropics. Range extends from extreme south-eastern Mexico to Amazonian Peru, Bolivia and Brazil in lowlands up to 500 m (1,640 ft) (at least formerly) up to 1,000 m (3,281 ft). It has been widely extirpated by habitat destruction and capture for the parrot trade, but locally it remains fairly common. Formerly it ranged north to southern Tamaulipas. It can still be found on the island of Coiba. It is the national bird of Honduras. The Scarlet Macaw can live up to 75 years in captivity, although, a more typical lifespan is 40 to 50 years

5. Red bird of Paradise

Red Bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea rubra, also Cendrawasih Merah), is a bird-of-paradise in the genus Paradisaea, family Paradisaeidae. An Indonesian endemic, the Red Bird-of-paradise is distributed to lowland rainforests of Waigeo and Batanta islands of West Papua. This species shares its home with another bird-of-paradise, the Wilson's Bird-of-paradise. Hybridisation between these two species is not recorded but is expected because it is recorded for many other birds of paradise. The Red Bird-of-paradise is depicted on the front side of 1992 edition of Indonesia 20000 Rupiah banknote.

6. Blue Bird of Paradise

The Blue Bird-of-paradise, Paradisaea rudolphi, is a medium-sized with a bluish-white bill, dark brown iris, grey legs, broken white eye-ring and bright blue wings. The male is adorned with violet blue and cinnamon flank plumes and two long ribbon-like tail feathers. The female has a chestnut brown below.

The Blue Bird-of-paradise is endemic to Papua New Guinea. It is distributed to mountain forests of southeastern New Guinea. ITIS recognizes only one subspecies, but additional subspecies margaritae and ampla have been described. The male is polygamous and performs a breathtaking courtship display. But unlike all other Paradisaea species, he performs solitary with attending female nearby. In display, the male hangs from a branch upside down. The black oval with red margin at the centre of his chest is rhythmically enlarged and contracted. His violet blue plumes spread out in a fan, swaying its body back and forth while the central tail feathers form two impressive arches down to either side. Throughout his performance he vocalizes softly in a low but harsh vibrating voice.

Regarded by some ornithologists as the loveliest of all birds, the Blue Bird-of-paradise was discovered by Carl Hunstein in 1884. The scientific name commemorates the ill-fated Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria.

Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range, small population size and hunting in some areas for its highly prized plumes, the rare Blue Bird-of-paradise is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

7. Goldies Bird of Paradise:

The Goldie's Bird-of-paradise, Paradisaea decora is a large, approximately 33 cm long, olive-brown bird-of-paradise. The male has a yellow and dark green plumage with a lavender grey breast, yellow iris and grey colored bill, mouth and feet. It is adorned with large crimson ornamental flank plumes and two long tail wires. The male is distinguished from other Paradisaea species by its lavender grey breast plumage. Unadorned female has an olive-brown plumage with cinnamon-brown below.

Endemic to Papua New Guinea, the Goldie's Bird-of-paradise is distributed in the hill forests of Fergusson and Normanby Island of the D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago, eastern Papuan Islands. The diet consists mainly of fruits.

The name commemorates the Scottish collector Andrew Goldie, who discovered the bird in 1882.Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range and overhunting in some areas, the Goldie's Bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

8. Pink Flamingoes

Flamingos often stand on one leg, the other tucked beneath the body. The reason for this behavior is not fully understood. Some suggest that the flamingo, like some other animals, has the ability to have half of its body go into a state of sleep, and when one side is rested, the flamingo will swap legs and then let the other half sleep,[citation needed] but this has not been proven. Recent research has indicated that standing on one leg may allow the birds to conserve more body heat, given that they spend a significant amount of time wading in cold water. As well as standing in the water, flamingos may stamp their webbed feet in the mud to stir up food from the bottom.

Young flamingos hatch with grey plumage, but adults range from light pink to bright red due to aqueous bacteria and beta carotene obtained from their food supply. A well-fed, healthy flamingo is more vibrantly coloured and thus a more desirable mate. A white or pale flamingo, however, is usually unhealthy or malnourished. Captive flamingos are a notable exception; many turn a pale pink as they are not fed carotene at levels comparable to the wild. This is changing as more zoos begin to add prawns and other supplements to the diets of their flamingos. Alice is invited (in 'Alice in Wonderland') to play a game of croquet with the Queen and the rest of her subjects but the game quickly descends into chaos. Live flamingos are used as mallets and hedgehogs as balls

9. Osprey

A Jet White Raptor. The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts, with a black eye patch and wings.

The Osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It is found on all continents except Antarctica although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant.

As its other common name suggests, the Osprey's diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It has evolved specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey. The sexes appear fairly similar, but the adult male can be distinguished from the female by its slimmer body and narrower wings. The breast band of the male is also weaker than that of the female, or is non-existent, and the underwing coverts of the male are more uniformly pale. It is straightforward to determine the sex in a breeding pair, but harder with individual birds. Ospreys usually mate for life. Rarely, polyandry has been recorded

10. Humming Bird

King of Small birds. These birds represents the beauty which lies even in smallest of birds. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 12–90 times per second (depending on the species). They can also fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so. Their English name derives from the characteristic hum made by their rapid wing beats.Hummingbirds drink nectar, a sweet liquid inside flowers. Like bees, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they reject flower types that produce nectar that is less than 10% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is stronger. Like the similar nectar-feeding sunbirds and unlike other birds, hummingbirds drink by using protrusible grooved or trough-like tongues.Hummingbirds do not spend all day flying, as the energy cost would be prohibitive; the majority of their activity consists simply of sitting or perching. Hummingbirds feed in many small meals, consuming many small invertebrates and up to five times their own body weight in nectar each day. They spend an average of 10–15% of their time feeding and 75–80% sitting and digesting.

Hummingbird flight has been studied intensively from an aerodynamic perspective using wind tunnels and high-speed video cameras. Among the better-known North American species, the average lifespan is 3 to 5 years. By comparison, the smaller shrews, among the smallest of all mammals, seldom live more than 2 years. Hummingbirds are restricted to the Americas, from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, including the Caribbean. There are between 325 and 340 species of hummingbird.

(As on today i have just seen 2 of the 'FAB 10' - Peacock and Flamingoes. Gearing for the rest 8 - black necked stork and oriental kingfisher in particular as they are residents of India)