It may be almost as common as the maya, but here’s the Yellow-Vented Bulbul or YVB once again, in various poses.

Posted in: Better Earth, Photo Gallery | Comments(1) | March 2009

I was birdscoping on Riana’s balcony when a vividly-colored butterfly hovered into view and settled on a bougainvillea for a few seconds before flitting away. Good thing I got off some shots.

After a bit of rather intensive internet research (it’s much harder trying to verify the species name of a butterfly than that of a bird; I’ve said before that I’m no ornithologist, and let me add that I’m no lepidopterist either), I found out that this is a Delias Hyparete, which goes by the common name Painted Jezebel. This subspecies is the luzonensis, found in Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, Luzon, Marinduque, Mindoro, Negros, Panay, Panaon, Polillo, Samar, and Sibuyan.

The Olympus Microscopy Resource Center points out that female Painted Jezebels “flaunt brilliant hues of yellow and red contrasted by bold black veins on a white background” compared to the males which “are often paler and have less black on their wings than the females and, in some subspecies, are almost entirely white.” Based on this, what we have here is definitely a female.

By the way, according to one site on Expressions & Sayings, the phrase “painted Jezebel” refers to a:

shameless, immoral, scheming woman
Jezebel was the wife of Ahab, king of Israel, whom she introduces to the worship of Baal, the god of the Phoenicians, while persecuting the prophets of the Hebrew god, Jehovah, and drawing down upon herself the denunciation of Elijah. In II Kings, 9, she is referred to in connection with ‘whoredoms’ and ‘witchcrafts’, and her use of cosmetics (verse 30) has given rise to the expression a painted Jezebel for a woman who flaunts herself provocatively.

Uh-oh, what if the butterfly is male? To avoid confusion, maybe it should be called differently. It ought to have a new name of its own. (Maybe something like Rustom Padilla? No, wait, make that Bebe Gandanghari instead. Oops, that’ll just confuse the male butterfly - and almost everyone else - even more! )

Okay, enough of the irrelevant digressing. Let’s end with what I just wanted to say when I started this post: As these pictures show, we’re about to see more and more of the sunlit palette of colors that summer brings.

Isn’t that great?

Posted in: Better Earth, Photo Gallery | Comments(1) | March 2009

Yup, I’ve been doing a lot of birdwatching lately. My camera’s zoom lens has never been this busy, and I’m getting to appreciate why serious wildlife photographers invest gazillions in humungous magnification and focal range extenders. (Remember Philippine wild bird photographer Romy Ocon? He uses, among others, a Sigma 300-800mm DG supertelephoto lens, aptly nicknamed the Sigmonster. Do a Google Image Search of the lens and you’ll see instantly why it’s called that.)

Not having the spare change to plunk down on something which costs the equivalent of three Tata Nanos (and looks almost as big as the car), I’m making do with a 55-200mm zoom lens while shooting from the comfort of the masters bedroom balcony. Not bad actually. You’d be surprised at how much bird activity goes on in our part of Antipolo.

This is the Yellow-Vented Bulbul. It’s said to be, next to the ubiquitous maya (or Eurasian Tree Sparrow), the second most common bird in the Philippines. Its black eye mask and brown mohawk of a crest give it a mean-looking visage. Take note though (pun intended), unlike the gossipy mayas which only chatter away, this bulbul variant makes pleasing low-to-middle pitched burbling trills.

The first part of its name comes from the fact that it has a yellow anal area (or undertail coverts), visible in the photo above. As alternatively defined by The Free Dictionary.com, the word “vent” is used in zoology to refer to “the excretory opening of the digestive tract in animals such as birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.”

According to one source cited in Wikipedia’s YVB entry -

Bulbuls are not only delightful birds, but also play an important role. As fruit eaters, they disperse the seeds of plants. As insect-eaters, they keep the population of damaging insects under control.

The YVB is larger than the maya and, judging from the few hours I’ve spent observing them, tends to be aggressive. Either by itself or with its lifetime mate (the bird is reportedly monogamous), it chases away smaller flyers from its favorite perches.

While it won’t win any avian beauty contests, the YVB still cuts a striking image, even if it isn’t as up close as a Sigmonster could have done.

P.S. Anyone out there dreaming of getting a Sigmonster might want to fantasize about the soon-to-be-available Carl Zeiss PhotoScope™ 85 T* FL instead! Click here for a YouTube video of its demo.

Posted in: Better Earth, Photo Gallery | Comments(0) | March 2009