Blue-naped Parrot

This lovely green parrot would have qualified as one of the 60-odd species of ENDEMIC birds of the Philippines (i.e. species found nowhere else in the world) were it not for a small colony that live and breed among the casuarina trees on Tanjung Aru Beach in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (Borneo)! So now it is relegated to a mere NEAR-ENDEMIC! Many believe that this group of birds in Kota Kinabalu are actually descended from pet birds brought over from the Philippines as they are very popular pets there.

The photo on top was in fact that of a pet caged bird taken in Zamboanga City by Ken using a Nikon Coolpix digital camera when he was only 5 years old (in May 2005)! He had stuck the lens in between the cage wires and snapped this perfectly sharp shot. When I received the photo by email I just digitally removed the background and signs of the cage and add a frame. I also thought it's a photo of one of the small hanging parrots, (called Colasisi in the Philippines) which are also popular cage birds, until a well-known Filipino bird photographer pointed out to me that it's a Blue-naped Parrot! (How embarrassing!)

I have since gone to Tanjung Aru Beach and successfully taken some shots of this once-endemic beauty of the P. I. They seem to be doing well there, with quite a large number of them to be seen busily and very noisily, squawking loudly, flying from tree to tree and building nests in crevices on the trees oblivious to the bathers and picnickers below.

Photo of one of the Tanjung Aru birds >

As we prepare to send off 2007 and welcome in the new year a familiar song will be heard once again around the world after the month or two of incessant Christmasy songs and jingles.

Auld Lang Syne is surely one of the most well known songs in the world, not only in English-speaking countries but in many non-English-speaking countries like Japan, Thailand and Taiwan as well. Almost everybody knows the tune and has sung it (or part of it) at one time or another, but how many know the words beyond the first stanza and the chorus? Like many other frequently sung songs, the melody is better remembered than the words, which are often sung incorrectly, and seldom in full.

Well here are the complete lyrics:

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o’ lang syne?

Chorus:

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne!

We twa hae rin about the braes,
And pu’d the gowans fine,
But we’ve wander’d monie a weary fit
Sin’ auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’t i’ the burn
Frae mornin’ sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin’ auld lang syne.

And here’s a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie’s a hand o’ thine,
We’ll tak a right guid-willie waught
For auld lang syne!

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne!

What do those strange words mean? Well, it's in Scots and the song's title literally means "Old Long Since", that is "Long Long Ago", "Days Gone By" or if you like, simply "The Good Old Days"!

The song, or at least part of it was written and published by Robert Burns the Scottish poet in the late 1700's though an older version had existed long before him. Singing the song on Hogmanay or New Year's Day very quickly became a Scots custom, which soon spread to other parts of the British Isles. As Scots and other Britons emigrated around the world, they took the song with them.

One translation in plain English goes like this:

Times Long Gone

Should old acquaintances be forgotten,
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintances be forgotten,
And days of long ago !

Chorus:

For old long ago, my dear
For old long ago,
We will take a cup of kindness yet
For old long ago.

We two have run about the hillsides
And pulled the daisies fine,
But we have wandered many a weary foot
For old long ago.

We two have paddled (waded) in the stream
From morning until dinner time,
But seas between us broad have roared
Since old long ago.

And here’s a hand, my trusty friend,
And give us a hand of yours,
And we will take a goodwill draught (of ale)
For old long ago!

And surely you will pay for your pint,
And surely I will pay for mine!
And we will take a cup of kindness yet
For old long ago!

STOP THIS PHILIPPINE ENDEMIC BIRD MASSACRE !!!

Hi Esteemed Visitors,

Today I received an email from my friend Mike Lu who's the president of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines www.birdwatch.ph

It begins like this:

"Dear Friends
I seldom ask my friends to sign petitions or join signature campaigns
but this is horrible ! Please check out the petition site to see the links
and the photos of dead birds. To think that hunting is already illegal
in the Philippines, yet this is a nationwide network !...."

So my friends who are lovers of nature click on this link and sign the petition! It's unbelievable that there are still so many who thinks nothing of killing hundreds of birds just for fun! If we don't stop these monsters the next generation will not be able to see many of the beautiful birds and other animals that we still have now!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/revolting-local-bird-massacre-website

Thanks & Merry Christmas,
Alindanaw

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Giant Mosquito?

Mee, knowing my interest in insects and other creepy-crawlies, always takes pictures of unusual creatures that she comes across and sends them to me - millipedes, golden bugs, birds that flew into the house and most recently she sent me via Yahoo! IM a photo of what she said was a Gaint Mosquito found sharing her shower! I could imagine the scene in my mind - which inspired this cartoon :)

As for the Big Mozzie, well at a glance it does look like a huge mosquito, but on closer inspection it doesn’t have a piercing, blood-sucking syringe and so it isn’t one. It is in fact a crane fly in the Tipulidae family, which like mosquitoes, also belongs to the insect order Diptera.

Crane flies are large long-winged, long-legged and slim-bodied flies, their legs are easily detached (the one in the photo has lost 2 legs). There are thousands of species of crane flies known to science, however most adult crane flies are harmless to human but the immatures (larvae) of some species that live in the soil are serious pest of crops, the larvae of most species are aquatic.

The Loathsome Baki

The cane toad (Bufo marinus) is so common and ubiquitous in the Philippines that most people would think that it's a native of this country. In fact it was introduced into the country 73 years ago and had adapted so well that it can now be found in almost every corner of the country.

A number of these toads or frogs were imported from the Hawaii Sugar Planters' Association on Oahu, Hawaii to Manila in March 1934 and released in sugar plantations to control insect pests. Releases were also made in Negros in 1935-36, in Panay and Guimaras in 1936-39 and in 1949 they were taken to Cotabato. Some were taken from Dumaguete and released in Zamboanga City and Davao in the 1950s.

Whether the toads were successful in doing the job they were originally brought in to do or not was not known as there were no study or data available regarding their success or failure in controlling noxious insects.

However these toads themselves are poisonous and they eat almost anything that are small enough to fit in their mouths - insects, other frogs, small mammals and birds even the food people put out for their pets! They have poison glands behind their eyes from which a milky toxic secretion is produced when they are attacked or handled. This substance is dangerous to all species including humans. Contact with it causes burning in the eyes and hands and skin irritation in people, while ingestion could be fatal. Animals like cats and dogs, snakes and monitor lizards that eat or try to eat a cane toad often die of poisoning. Therefore it was thought that these aliens creatures kill many wild as well as domestic animals and may have caused the decline of many native animals both by devouring them and by their poison.

In Australia where cane toads were introduced for the same reasons in 1935, there are much evidence of the havoc they have wrecked on the native animals as well great nuisance to people. Much effort had been and is being spent in an unending battle to stop their spread in the whole
of Australia.
The Bisaya word for the Cane Toad, aka Marine Toad aka Gaint Toad/Frog is Baki. I wonder why the Tagalogs give it such a noble name - Palakang Nazareth??

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Some related blogs with Baki posts:
http://galaxyofemptiness.blogspot.com/2007/03/poisonous-loathesome-toad.html
http://bayangpinagpala.blogspot.com/2007/03/cane-frog-palakang-nazareth.html

Asam Pedas

Even for those from other parts of the planet, the red stuff in the photo requires no introduction, but those green fruits are called camias (kamias. kamyas) or iba in the Philippines and are incredibly sour, still some people enjoy them just like that – raw. In Malaysia they are called belimbing asam or sour belimbing to distinguish them from the sweet belimbing manis also known in English as starfruit. Camias does not have an English name but they are commonly referred to as Sour Carambola or even sometimes Sour Cucumber Tree (as the fruits do look like mini cucumbers! But fancy cucumbers growing on trees!). (Photo taken by Mee)

Aside from being eaten raw (!) camias is mainly added to dishes that need some sourness to it like in some fish recipes as well as in salads, pickles and some curries.

A favorite recipe of my mother is to make it into a kind of sambal (side dish) with pounded or ground-up dried shrimps. A quantity of camias is rouhly chopped up. A handful of finely cut garlic and shallot and lots of pounded red hot (pungent) chillis are fried in hot oil together with dried shrimps until fragrant. (At this stage get ready the handkerchief or tissues for the tears and sneezes!!) A small piece of lightly toasted and pounded belachan (Malaysian shrimp paste) may also be added for its flavor. The camias is put in together with the other ingredients last and the mixture sauteed until done. If a large quantity is made some of it may be put in jars and kept in the fridge until required.

Scientific name of camias is Averrhoa bilimbi.
Asampedas means sour and hot (pungent) in Malay.