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The Siberian Rubythroat passes via Shanghai on its autumn migration, primarily in October and November. Its Latin title, Calliope calliope, is derived from Calliope, the chief of the Greek muses. Apparently, she was each the wisest and essentially the most assertive of the muses. She additionally will need to have had one thing of a imply streak – after defeating the daughters of the king of Thessaly in a singing contest, she punished them by turning them into magpies.
eBird appears to be a fan of the species, calling it a perky, long-legged songbird” with a “variable melodic tune consist[ing] of lovely warbling and occasional mimicry”.
Nonetheless, eBird errs stating that “youthful male might have a touch of crimson, whereas feminine lacks crimson” – although most birders certainly suppose that is true, females generally have a reddish throat (like a carelessly utilized lipstick), as described within the quite detailed ebook “Ageing & Sexing of Migratory East Asian Passerines”, which surprisingly solely reaches #4,310,956 within the Amazon Rating of Finest Promoting Books, regardless of being a cut price at USD 107 (cash nicely spent, in the event you ask me).
A couple of photographs of the feminine
Certainly, one other supply additionally states that neither dimension nor colour of the crimson throat patch or the bordering sub-malar stripes are dependable subject marks for sexing Siberian Rubythroats.
The Siberian Rubythroat appears to considerably lack a correct inbuilt GPS system – whereas it breeds as far west because the Ural Mountains and winters as far est as Central India, it doesn’t migrate via central Asia in massive numbers (though this might be the shortest manner). Relatively, throughout autumn migration, it first flies to east Siberia, then turns south throughout japanese China, and eventually turns west (supply: Birds of Two Worlds: The Ecology and Evolution of Migration).
It additionally appears that totally different populations of rubythroats use totally different and particular routes, a phenomenon that’s apparently known as “migratory connectivity” and that’s comparatively unusual amongst long-distance migrants. Birds breeding in mainland East Russia migrate via mainland China and spend the winter in South-East Asia, whereas birds ringed in Japan and easternmost Russia had been primarily discovered wintering in Taiwan and the Philippines (supply). There may be additionally one other research additionally trying on the migration routes of Siberian Rubythroats based mostly on light-level-based geolocation.
Different enjoyable issues that researchers have finished with Siberian Rubythroats embody investigating their response to gentle of various wavelengths. They discovered that the seen gentle sensitivity of Siberian Rubythroat was the very best for the 478 nm turquoise and decreased in the direction of the 622 nm crimson, although I’m not fairly certain if that is significantly related data.
Equally, I’m not fairly certain what to make of the knowledge that the wing size of rubythroats trapped in Hong Kong turned shorter between 1985 and 2020 (supply) – my guess is that both world warming or Donald Trump must be accountable.
The tune of the Siberian Rubythroat is quite attention-grabbing and infrequently sounds virtually jazzy to me (not often a praise coming from me, however on this context, it’s). A paper on this additionally describes the tune of the species as extraordinarily complicated and variable. The paper provides much more element on its tune: “This species sings predominantly discontinuously, however the period of particular person songs varies considerably. Every particular person tune consists of various tune models, a stereotypical set of various notes and syllables which can be at all times offered collectively and in a strictly fastened order.”
The foraging habits of the rubythroat is described as a “complicated exploration of dense vegetation thickets” (supply), significantly in comparison with a few of its closest kin such because the Rufous-tailed Robin, the Siberian Blue Robin, and the Bluethroat.
Whereas birders usually are very completely satisfied to see Siberian Rubythroats, there may be the chance of them spreading ailments. A research discovered that Siberian Rubythroats breeding in Siberia and Russia and wintering in Southeast Asia carry each tick-borne encephalitis virus and a few borrelia species. So higher not let a rubythroat chunk you.
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