Scarlet Minivet - Pericrocotus flammeus
Today's post is about the page in every birdbook where they seem to collect all of the exotica. If you are off to somewhere truly exotic you might get 2 or 3 pages with birds that look like they belong in the rainforest and feast on honey and sugared millet seeds. I had a good couple of pages lined up for Sri Lanka and one of the birds that danced off the page was this one. Through my 10 x 50 binoculars (Avians - a good also ran brand that give a nice light image but are half the price of Swaroski or Leica) I had a fairly good view. My scope gave up the ghost due to my stupidity a while back and as I have posted that the long lense camera has yet to be purchased. Trust me this bird in the morning sunlight does look brilliant black and scarlet/orange all over. It shines out like a perfect jewel foliage. If you weren't awake on first view you soon will be !
This was taken at about 6.30 am from our terrace at Ellerton's lodge near Kandy in Sri Lanka. A terrace at treeptop height on a hill has to rank fairly high now on my list of holiday pluses ! Birding on tap and then a short walk to breakfast surrounded with flower gardens teeming with Sunbirds, Whiteyes and Barbets. I am thinking about flying back and just sitting on that terrace with a new camera for a week with men in smart jackets bringing me the odd gin and tonic and a bowel or nuts while I click away. Hardly Indiana Jones but tell me its not a nice way to bird !
I managed to catch a short clip on my camera as well. I am not intending to delve into a multi-media world regulary on this site but with such a poor shot I think you deserve a little more to get some sense of the bird.
The more I read up on this bird the more I want to go back and find another one ! I am sure it is probably a common bird but its a bit like the first time you see an Indian roller in Dubai - the colours just do it all. It is part of the Cuckoo-shrikes, Trillers and Minivets family - Campephagidae with 82, mostly tropical members who "conspicuously patrol the the canopies of forests and woodlands in search of insects and fruits'' - wasps dipped in rose water no doubt ! Collins Birds of the World confirms further that ''minivets on a small scale, are amongst the most resplendent of avian creatures, with males outfitted in bright red and orange, females in bright yelllow''. The larger family has 82 members with 13 ''stunning little minivets'' confined to Asia. Head East young man. A look in a couple of text books has me checking the Emirates flight times to India, Batavia and beyond !
I did my time - I recall one rain swept afternoon on Sheppey hugging the side of a sea wall trying to confirm a Lapland Bunting before calling it into the Birdline. When the sideways rain was stinging my face - I could barely make out the colours in the gloom and then it starts to hail to add insult to injury. I remember trying to pin down that bird and a particular metal button on my waxed coat kept flapping and catching me on the cheek. I earnt this Scarlet Minivet that afternoon - in fact I earnt all 13. It is my birding karma and I will enjoy it. Those were my Sundays and then the long drag back into London and then the tube the next morning. Why did you move to Dubai people ask me. For Indian Rollers, Purple Sunbirds and a short flight to Ceylon (I love that name) for a Crimson-backed Flameback or a Scarlet Minivet.
There is a lovely expression in arabic - SabaH al Kheir which is the morning greeting - I wish you a morning of light. You can swap the light for Jasmine (SabaH il Yasmine) or honey (SabaH il Aaasal), roses and so on but I expect that is for a special friend. I need to know the arabic for Minivet but anyway I wish anyone who reads this post ''SabaH il minivets''. Double click on the picture and hopefully you will get a sense of the colour shining back in the morning sun - gorgeous - truly gorgeous.
I once woke my wife up at 6am at Cley windmill because I had seen a flight of 7 spoonbills circling the Marsh from the seawall at the bottom of the windmill's garden. She wasn't amused. I am not sure what qualifies as a drag out of bed bird but I was very close to bounding into the room like a four year old on this occasion ''you have to come and see - its a Scarlet Minivet !". I supressed the urge - barely !
Scarlet Minivet - Percrocotus flammeus
Ellertons Lodge, Hills near Kandy, Sri lanka
9 April 2011
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