Ornithology Anne Geene & Arjan de Nooy de HEF publishers Giacomo Puccini, ‘Madama Butterfly’, 1904 1 History 1.1 First Photograph of a Bird 11 1.2 Aristotle on Birds 17 1.3 The Population of the Mauritshuis 43 2 Form and Function 2.1 Camouflage 65 2.2 In Flight 81 2.3 Surface Tension 113 2.4 Velocity 121 2.5 Silhouettes 131 3 Behaviour and Migration 3.1 Bird Geometrics 143 3.2 Migration of a Herring Gull 177 3.3 Symbiosis 189 3.4 Sonograms 193 3.5 Ostrich Policy 203 3.6 Group Dynamics 217 3.7 Territory 237 4 Reproduction and Oology 4.1 Nest 241 4.2 Genetics 257 4.3 Holotype 263 5 Studies and Observations 5.1 Bird Counting 267 5.1.1 Area 269 5.1.2 Fixed Frame 275 5.1.3 One Picture 283 5.2 Reaction Rate 289 5.3 The Blackness of the Crow 293 6 Unresolved 6.1 Unidentified Species 307 6.2 The Whiteness of the Wood Pigeon’s Egg 313 6.3 Unexplained Phenomena 321 Bird Index 330 Bibliography 334 Colophon 335 1.1 First Photograph of a Bird The relatively slow shutter speed required for good exposure was an evident problem in the nascent days of photography. Even a photograph in direct sunlight required at least a few minutes for success. The restless nature of animals therefore made them poor subjects for the techniques of those times. Consequently, wildlife photos from the period are somewhat rare, excepting those of sedentary, inactive or sleeping creatures. Correspondingly, the famous first image in which a man is depicted, Louis Daguerre’s ‘Boulevard du Temple’, shows a Parisian street cobbler and his client while the background swims past. The subjects had to stand motionless for minutes in order to be visible in the photo. We set out to uncover the first picture of a living bird. After an exhaustive search, it was found nestled in Henry Talbot’s renowned ‘An Oak Tree in Winter’ 1841–43. Here we see depicted, a wood pigeon, a bird that happily adheres to moments of stillness. 1.1 First Photograph of a Bird 11 William Henry Fox Talbot, ‘An Oak Tree in Winter’, 1841–43 12 1.1 First Photograph of a Bird 13 1.1 First Photograph of a Bird 14 1.1 First Photograph of a Bird 15 1.2 Aristotle on Birds Aristotle’s ‘History of Animals’ (Historia Animalium, 4th Century B.C.) is the earliest systematic zoological study handed down from antiquity. It comprises a mixture of philosophical/scientific considerations, assessments and personal observations as well as texts and stories of his contemporaries and would remain a standard in the field for almost two millennia. Writing extensively on birds, Aristotle’s text could easily be considered as the world’s first tract on ornithology. There follow some notable quotes of Aristotelian ornithology, from the translation of D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1910). Photographs of the mounted birds are of specimens in the collection of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam. 16 17 The cuckoo shows great sagacity in the disposal of its progeny; They say that pigeons can dis- the fact is, the mother cuckoo is quite conscious of her own cow- tinguish the various species: so ardice and of the fact that she could never help her young one in that, when a hawk is an assail- an emergency, and so, for the security of the young one, she makes ant, if it be one that attacks of him a supposititious child in an alien nest. The truth is, this its prey when the prey is on the bird is pre-eminent among birds in the way of cowardice; it allows wing, the pigeon will sit still; itself to be pecked at by little birds, and flies away from their if it be one that attacks sit- attacks. ting prey, the pigeon will rise up and fly away. Book IX, 29, 618a Book IX, 36, 620a The cuckoo is said by some to be a hawk transformed, because at the time of the cuckoo’s coming, the hawk, which it resembles, is Pigeons have the faculty of never seen; and indeed it is only for a few days that you will see holding back the egg at the very hawks about when the cuckoo’s note sounds early in the season. moment of perturition; if a hen pigeon be put about by any one, Book VI, 7, 563b for instance if it be disturbed on tis nest, or have a feather plucked out, or sustain any other annoyance or disturbance, then even though she had made up her mind to lay she can keep the egg back in abeyance. Pigeon Book VI, 2, 560b The pigeon, as a rule, lays a male and a female egg, and gen- erally lays the male egg first... in all connected to the rearing of the young the female parent is more cross-tempered than the male, as is the case with most animals after parturition. Book VI, 4, 562b Cuckoo The erithacus (or redbreast) and the so-called redstart change into one another; the former is a winter bird, the latter a summer one, and the difference between them is practically limited to the coloration of their plumage. Book IX, 49B, 632b Redbreast Redstart 1.2 Aristotle on Birds 18 1.2 Aristotle on Birds 19 In the same way with the beccafico and the blackcap; these change into one another. The beccafico appears about autumn, and the blackcap as soon as autumn has ended. These birds, also, differ from one another only in colour and note; that these birds, two in name, are one in reality is proved by the fact that at the period when the change is in progress each one has been seen with the change as yet. Book IX, 49B, 632b Beccafico Blackcap The blackheaded tit is said by some to lay the largest number of eggs; seventeen eggs have been seen; it lays, however, more than twenty; it is said always to lay an odd number. Book IX, 15, 616b Blackheaded Tit 1.2 Aristotle on Birds 20 1.2 Aristotle on Birds 21 The crake is quarrelsome, clever For the eagle, by the way, ejects the young birds prematurely, at making a living, but in other before they are able to feed themselves, or to fly. It appears ways an unlucky bird. to do so from jealousy; for it is by nature jealous, and is so ravenous as to grab furiously at its food; and when it does Book IX, 17, 616b grab at its food, it grabs it in large morsels. Book IX, 34, 619b Crake Eagle The horse and the anthus are enemies, and the horse will drive the bird out of the field where he is grazing: the bird feeds on grass, and sees too dimly to foresee an attack; it mimics the whinnying of the horse, flies at him, and tries to frighten him away; but the horse drives the bird away, and when- ever he catches it he kills it. Book IX, 1, 609b Anthus 1.2 Aristotle on Birds 22 1.2 Aristotle on Birds 23 Many indications of high intel- With regard to their origin, ligence are given by cranes. nothing is known from ocular They will fly to a great distance observation; the only fact known and up in the air, to command for certain is that they are an extensive view; if they see first seen when a west wind is clouds and signs of bad weather blowing. they fly down again and remain still. Book IX, 28, 618a Book IX, 10, 614b The crane, as has been said, migrates from the one end of the world to the other; they fly against the wind. The story told about the stone is untrue: to wit, that the bird, so the story goes, carries in its inside a stone by way of ballast, and that the stone when vomited up is a touchstone for gold. Book VIII, 12,597b Crane Little Horned Owl With partridges, by the way, if the female gets to leeward of the male, she becomes thereby impregnated. And often when they hap- pen to be in heat she is affected in this wise by the voice of the male, or by his breathing down on her as he flies overhead; and, by the way, both the male and the female partridge keep the mouth wide open and protrude the tongue in the process of coition. Book V, 5, 541a The partridge lays not less than ten eggs, and often lays as many as sixteen. As has been observed, the bird has mischievous and deceitful habits. In the spring-time, a noisy scrimmage takes place, out of which the male-birds emerge each with a hen. Owing to the lecherous nature of the bird, and from a dislike to the hen sitting, the males, if they find any eggs, roll them over and over until they break them in pieces; to provide against this the female goes to a distance and lays the eggs, and often,under the stress of parturition, lays them in any chance spot that offers; if the male be near at hand, then to keep the eggs intact she refrains from visiting them. Book IX, 8, 613b It is a great rogue of a bird, The fact is that, when she stands to windward an within scent of and is a capital mimic; a bird- the male, she conceives, and becomes useless for decoy purposes: catcher will dance before it for, by the way, the partridge appears to have a very acute sense and, while the bird is mimick- of smell.