The king of the birds, feeling one day in a good humour, wanted to find out which of his subjects could sing best. So he sent an order to his birds to select from amongst themselves those whom they thought to be the best singers. All the birds came together, and, after having heard many […]
Category: Muscicapidae
The boring Nightingale
When God created the world he made all the living creatures of one colour, or rather with none, for no one had any colouring on its wings, feathers, or skin. So, one day, God called all his creatures to paint them with different colours as he chose. All the birds and beasts and creeping things […]
The pessimistic Raven and the wiser Robin
One morning in the early spring a raven was sitting on one of the branches of an old oak. He felt very ugly and cross, and could only say, “Croak! Croak!” Soon a little robin, who was looking for a place to build her nest, came, with a merry song, into the same tree. “Good […]
The Slothful Nightingale and the Industrious Ant
It is related that in a certain garden a Nightingale had built his nest on the bough of a rose-bush. It so happened that a poor little Ant had fixed her dwelling at the root of this same bush, and managed as best she could to store her wretched hut of care with winter provision. […]
The Thousand-noted Nightingale and the King with three sons
A king wanted to build a church. A Hermit told him he would need the Thousand-noted Nightingale to sing at his church or the church would never be completed. The King had three sons they said: “We will go and bring it for you”. Then the three sons mounted their steeds and set forth. After […]
Slow pace of life in tropical sedentary birds:a common-garden experiment on four stonechatpopulations from different latitudes
Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola maura) Science Article 2 abstract It has been hypothesized that organisms living at different latitudes or in different environments adjust their metabolic activity to the prevailing conditions. However, do differences in energy turnover simply represent a phenotypic adaptation to the local environment, or are they genetically based? Martin Wikelski, Proc. R. Soc. […]
Gonadal status upon spring arrival in long-distance and short-distancemigrating stonechats ( Saxicola torquata)
Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola maura) Science Article 1 abstract Long-distance migration is often associated with relatively short breeding seasons and a start of reproductive activities shortly after arrival. The full activation of the reproductive system from the regressed state takes, however, several weeks and must, therefore, be initiated in the winter quarters or during spring migration. […]
Magnetic cues and time of season affect fueldeposition in migratory thrush nightingales(Luscinia luscinia)
Thrush Nightingale (Luscinia luscinia) Science Article 2 abstract Bird migration requires high energy expenditure, and long-distance migrants accumulate fat for use asfuel during stopovers throughout their journey. Recent studies have shown that long-distance migratorybirds, besides accumulating fat for use as fuel, also show adaptive phenotypic flexibility in several organsduring migration. The migratory routes of many […]
Wingbeat frequency and the body drag anomaly: wind-tunnel observations on a thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia) and a teal (Anas crecca)
Thrush Nightingale (Luscinia luscinia) Science Article 1 abstract A teal (Anas crecca) and a thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia) were trained to fly in the Lund wind tunnel for periods of up to 3 and 16 h respectively. Both birds flew in steady flapping flight, with such regularity that their wingbeat frequencies could be determined by […]
Daylength determines departure date of the Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata from its winter quarters.
Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) Science Article 1 abstract The annual arrival and departure dates of the Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata at Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State, South Africa, were noted for a continuous period of 36 years (1950-1986). According to a stepwise regression analysis, daylength is by far the most important environmental factor influencing […]