Giant Honey Bees

To let 'bee', or not to let 'bee'.

Idealism, or ignorance, or fear or just 'bees'.

 

A month later ....

Giant Honey Bee (Apis dorsata)

* Generally accepted as harmless unless provoked.

Brown Shrike

 It was unlike any from afar but for its lower back feathers standing out in the strong noon light, insisting that this one should be checked out.

It had lost its tail feathers or retrices; it was nonetheless active although keeping mainly to the lower and almost ground level. 

AI

Rectrices are the large, stiff tail feathers of a bird that act like a rudder to steer, brake, and balance during flight.

Trauma or Predation: A near-miss by a larger predator, cat, or raptor can cause the bird to shed its tail feathers (fright molt) or have them ripped out during a struggle.

Moulting: Birds occasionally undergo stressful or synchronized moulting where tail feathers drop out simultaneously, though a completely tailless look is more frequently tied to an accident or narrow escape.

No Regeneration: Unlike lizards, birds cannot regrow a lost tail. They must wait for new feathers to grow back naturally from the follicles over several weeks.

Tiger Shrike

It is as infrequent to spot an adult Tiger Shrike as it is frequent to come across a first winter juvenile during the migratory season.

Pretty far apart but in the same area, could this pair be parent and juvenile visitors?

Trivia (AI)

First Description: Formally described in 1822 by Belgian naturalist Pierre Auguste Joseph Drapiez.

Scientific Name: Placed in the genus Lanius (Latin for "butcher"), reflecting its predatory habit of impaling prey.

Name Origin: Called the "tiger" shrike because of the tiger-like dark bars on its reddish-brown upperparts.

A shrike bird symbolizes resilience, watchfulness, and the complex duality of survival and sacrifice.

The meaning of the shrike changes depending on the culture and context. People view this tiny predator—often called a "butcherbird"—as both a fierce protector and an omen of dark times.

The juvenile foraging further away.

Eastern-crowned Warbler

 The Eastern-crowned Warbler seems to be more prevalent in so many migratory seasons already compared to the Arctic Warbler, and remains a baffling issue why it is so.

Trivia (AI)

The word warbler comes from the Middle English word werblen, which means "to sing with trills, quavers, or rapid variations."

How the word has evolved:
Old French Roots: The Middle English term was adapted from the Old French word werbler, which meant "to play an instrument" or "to make a trilling sound".
Germanic Origins: The Old French word itself came from an ancient Germanic root (werbelen), meaning "to turn, whirl, or twist." This referred to the "twisting" or rapidly changing nature of a trilling voice.
Shift to Birds: While the word was originally used to describe human singing or musical instruments in the 14th century, it was first applied specifically to the small, vocal songbirds as known today in the 1650s.

Blyth's Paradise-Flycatcher

 A flash of brown, a flow of adrenaline, the season suggests a Paradise-Flycatcher, evoking a familiar emotion year after year when this species is spotted.

Indeed, a short-tailed or female Blyth's Paradis-Flycatcher upon close examination, speeding in, typically in a birdwave comprising a flycatcher-shrike, a warbler, a sunbird, among others.  

As usual the frenzy was infectious for the watcher/photographer trapped delirious trying to capture the best moments.  

Ahhh, but, for now, perhaps the best is yet to come.

Trivia (AI)

Extract

A bird that inspires cultural myths and symbolic folklore across Asia due to its ethereal, flowing tail streamers and fairy-like appearance in flight.

For example, in Chinese folklore, long-tailed paradise-flycatchers represent longevity because their long tails mirror the concept of length and enduring time.

In parts of South Asia, closely related paradise-flycatchers are called Swargiya Pakshi (heavenly birds) because their drifting, ribbon-like tails resemble celestial threads connecting earth to the sky.

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

 It has and lost, or it has yet to have.

It's a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, minding its own business.

Rubber Tree

 The only one in the entire taman that decided that it's time to shed and renew first, perhaps the one beside will follow suit soon.

A rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) sheds during the current dry season.

The taman which is more than 60 years old now boasts more than 200 species of economic trees, fruit trees, timber species as well as medicinal plants according to a flora survey undertaken years ago during the Save TRK Campaign, to illustrate the precious haven of trees in the taman.