Original YT playout date: 16 April 2009
Duration: 6:08
A little look at my fishes, the collection as per 2009, that is. None of these are with me now in 2020, although I do have some that are 7 years old or so. The offspring of the Ancistrus might be still in the tank, but I took Ancistrus at different times so it is hard to say on that one. You’ll recognise some if not all of them from earlier videos. Continue reading “Office Aquarium”→
Since it appears that the pandemic is taking a long time to settle it has taken some of the urgency out of getting through the Corvid-19 series. In fact if I do it too fast I might have to make up the time with a Cervid-19 series and I am far from sure I can find things to talk about for 19 of the Cervidae. It is proving a challenge even for the Corvids and there are about 45 of those to select a representative 19 from.
This time we see a more exotic corvid which most Europeans or American readers won’t know at all, while given the fact it is not at all rare in South Asia, my readers from India and the surrounding countries will be very familiar with this bird.
As usual the information is being put together in a table for so as to allow an easier summary at the end of the series. I am still thinking about publishing a fine “Corvid 19” wall chart in time for the end of the pandemic.
Indian treepie. A local name in India is taka chor, or “coin thief”.
German
Wanderbaumelster
French
Témia vagabonde
Russian
Индийская древесная сорока
Polish
Srokówka jasnoskrzydła
Scientific Name
Dendrocitta vagabunda
Number of species in the genus
7
Number of subspecies in this species
7
Literal meaning of Scientific name
Wandering tree jay. An earlier species name “rufa” as well as the common name “rufous” refers to the cinnamon red coloration of the mantle.
Described by
English ornithologist John Latham in 1790
First attested in literature
Not known in earlier Western literature.
Wingspan (cm)
17
Length bill to tail (cm)
37
Distribution
Most of southern Asia, from Afghanistan to Southern Thailand, with subspecies of slightly differing appearance appearing in different parts of the range.
Remarks
A fairly common, small bird which is conspicuous both because of its handsome red white and black plumage and also its loud musical calls, with a broad vocal range. There are a number of diffferent Dendrocitta species or treepies, effectively a treepie is a tree magpie, as pie is the original name for a magpie (see the note on the common magpie earlier in the series).
Migrations
The migrations are not wide-ranging despite the name of wanderer, as the bird likes to cache food stores.
Sexual dimorphism
Barely noticeable
Close relatives
Six other Dendrocitta members, of which the most similar is the grey treepie D. formosae from Taiwan.
Not close relatives thought to be close
The Dendrocitta are one of four genera in the Crypsirininae, which means “hidden nostrils”, and the other genera also contain birds called treepies, including the ratchet-tailed treepie, the racket tailed treepie (two completely different birds from different genera, Temnurus and Crypsirina respectively) as well as the black magpie, which is a treepie despite its name. Magpies proper are not closely related.
Cultural significance
All the treepies got their name from the fact that they stay in the trees almost all the time, rarely coming down to the ground to feed, and therefore known to humans more though the calls which they have and also the flashes of rufous plumage that can be seen, on the white and yellow and black of the handsome white bellied and collared treepies. They mainly eat the fruits and leaves of trees, some have a particular affinity for certain trees or are adapted to eat the fruit of trees poisonous to most other birds and mammals, such as Tricosanthes tricuspida. It is loved by palm farmers as a natural predator on the palm weevils Rhynchophorus among other arboreal insects.
Original YT playout date: 3 March 2009
Duration: 14:18
The rooks come home to rest, and I take my kids to their horse therapy. Later on we see our balcony snowman and discuss how the comments of a few morons led to my needing to take down a successful film. Between these morons on the one hand and morons like Warners on the other, I am losing material these days almost as fast as I can put it up. Continue reading “The rooks, the horse, the cat and the snowman”→
