Chestnut-tailed Starling

That Saturday, there was a cacophony of birds in my garden. As I went out I saw a White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis), a paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) and a pair of Chestnut-tailed Starlings (Sturnus malabaricus) were having their own private hunting party. So I picked up my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV fitted it with Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM & Canon EF 2X II Extender and climbed the top floor of my hospital from where I could get a good canopy view of these birds. Daylight was harsh and through the tree canopy there was patch of dark and bright light sprinkled all around these birds.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

As I waited for these birds to come near me I was also worried of blown out highlights and very dark shadows of the canopy making a proper exposure a very big hurdle. Fortunately the longer magnification I gained using the 2x convertor on 300mm gave me a better reach towards the birds. After about half an hour of waiting I gained the confidence of these birds so that they could approach me closer. I used ISO of 800 to 1250 as the dark areas were not lit well. My aperture was wide open (when using 300mm & 2x extender) at f/5.6 and the speed was above 1/250th. I was supporting this rig using carbon fiber Monopod.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

I found a Chestnut-tailed Starling (Sturnus malabaricus) reaching close to me and I took several photos. Most pictures had bad light sprinkled all around the bird, so had to reject it. This harsh light resulted in over exposing part of the bird and those under shadow were underexposed creating a unusable mosaic pattern. No amount of post processing can salvage those photos. Bright mid noon sunlight was really a bad time to take good photos.

The Chestnut-tailed Starling or Grey-headed Myna (Sturnus malabaricus) is a member of the starling family of perching birds closely related to Myna’s. It is a resident and partially migratory species found in wooded habitats in India and Southeast Asia. Even though the species name Sturnus malabaricus refers to the bird from Malabar region (western coast of India), It is a resident of north-eastern India and migrates to south only during the winter. The sub species Sturnus malabaricus blythii is resident in Malabar region and is often treated as a full species, the Malabar Starling (Sturnus blythii) thus increasing confusion.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

There are three subspecies of the Chestnut-tailed Starling:

• Sturnus malabaricus malabaricus: It is the nominate species. North-eastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and north-western Burma.
• Sturnus malabaricus nemoricola: Southern China (incl. Taiwan), Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
• Sturnus malabaricus blythii: Western Ghats in India.

The bird I had on that day was Sturnus malabaricus malabaricus. It is resident in North-eastern India and sometimes migrates to south India during winter during its non breeding season.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

Sturnus malabaricus blythii is sometimes considered a valid species, the Malabar White-headed Starling or White-headed Myna (Sturnus blythii), instead of a subspecies of Sturnus malabaricus. As Sturnus malabaricus malabaricus only visits the range of blythii during the non-breeding period of winter, the two are not known to interbreed.

The adults have a total length of approximately 20 cm (8 in). They have grey upperparts and blackish remiges, but the colour of the remaining plumage depend on the subspecies. In the nominate subspecies and blythii, the underparts (including undertail) are rufus, but in nemoricola the underparts are whitish tinged rufus (especially on flanks and crissum). The nominate and nemoricola have a light grey head with whitish streaking (especially on crown and collar region). In blythii, the head and chest are white. All subspecies have white irides and a yellow bill with a pale blue base. The sexes are similar, but juveniles have whitish underparts and just chestnut tips to the tail feathers.

Chestnut-tailed Starling

The Chestnut-tailed Starling’s nest is typically found in open woodland and cultivation. The Chestnut-tailed Starling builds a nest in hole. The normal clutch is 3-5 eggs. Like most starlings, the Chestnut-tailed Starling is fairly omnivorous, eating fruit, nectar and insects. They fly in tight flocks and often rapidly change directions with great synchrony.

Micronia aculeata

That night coming home for dinner I spotted this moth on our kitchen floor. Being a pretty common moth around my house I assumed that I will get lot of information about this white moth. It was sitting on the vitrified floor tile which I have used in my kitchen. Dark clay color of the tile was a great contrast to the white, grey moth. Unfortunately the profile picture of the moth was impossible to get as it was sitting as though it was firmly stuck to the tile. That is why you see the picture from one angle here. I used Canon EOS 5D mark II with Canon EF 100mm F2.8L USM Macro lens illuminated with Canon Speedlite 580EXII fitted with ExpoImaging Ray Flash Adapter.

Micronia aculeata

When I searched internet for the information about this moth, I drew blank. Even thoughit is so common we hardly know anything about it. This Micronia aculeata moth belongs to Uraniidae family of moths. Unfortunately I could not find any common name for this moth. Some have called it Wayanad greystripe moth. It is found throughout India, China, Taiwan, SriLanka, Burma; Andaman, Java and Borneo. The adult moths of this species have speckled pale brown wings with two faint darker submarginal bands. Each forewing has a hooked apex, and at the tornus of each hindwing there is a short tail with a black spot.

Micronia aculeata

Like many moths in the family Uraniidae, the moth has its wings open and flat in its resting posture. It is also a day flying moth. Thanks to Haneesh K.M we have Life cycle of Micronia aculeata on Flickr. Host plant for its caterpillar is Green Milkweed Climber Wattakaka volubilis.

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

Returning after a busy day for a cup of coffee I noticed a spider on the granite pillar which leads to my house. When I built my house I got these local rough granite pillars from granite quarry in the nearby town of Karkala. 16 such tall stone pillars stand supporting roof of my pathway to my house. They are safe heavens for potter wasps who love to build nests. I had several social wasps building small hives before their larvae being eaten by neighboring potter wasps. Being rough it is a nice playing ground for Calotes lizards. That day I spotted a spider which was perfectly camouflaged to the granite background on that pillar. I could spot it only because it was holding a dark dead bee in its mouth and feeding on it. Later I could identify it as Two-Tailed Spider (Hersilia savignyi)

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

I quickly grabbed my Canon EOS 5D mark II flitted with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM. For illumination I used Canon Speedlite 580EX II fitted with ExpoImaging Ray Flash Adapter. For closeup work I use this setup as the Ray Flash Adapter produces nice diffuse light which does not give out harsh highlights. Only drawback I see is that you can see the reflection ring light as white ring on the reflective parts of the subject. After using Rayflash adapter I have nearly stopped using Canon MT-24EX macro twin light flash which I have.I think I need to start using macro twin light flash again with some diffuser so that I can reduce the reflection of ringlight and make the picture look natural. As the spider was stationary feeding on the bee, I had plenty of opportunity to photograph the spider from all the angles.

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

Being very well camouflaged for life, these spiders have an interesting way of capturing prey. The members of Hersiliidae family are flat, medium sized spiders that have a cryptic appearance and are usually found on tree trunks. These are very fast running, active hunting spiders. The most easily distinguishable feature of Hersiliidae is the extremely long posterior lateral spinnerets, which are often longer than the abdomen and sometimes approaching the total body length, hence the name two- tailed spiders. The body coloring is brown to match the color of the dry bark that the spider is normally resting on and camouflages well. The flattened body allows them to lie very close to the bark without casting any shadow or enables them to hide in the narrowest of cracks.

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

They are occasionally encountered on walls and rocks. When disturbed, the spider runs very swiftly to the opposite side of the tree with the spinnerets raised like a pair of horns. The spider sits on the tree trunk and spreads the silk over the nearby area. When a small insect comes close, the insect disturbs the silk and the spider senses this. The spider will quickly run around the insect in circles, with the insect in the center. The spider will also lay more silk at the same time, until the insect is entangled in it. They are active hunters living on tree trunks, old walls or under stones and at most spinning a scanty web of irregular threads. A total of six species of three genera are reported from India so far. Next day I saw the same spider with another grasshopper as its victim. I had another photo session with it which you can see in the last two photos on this page.

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

Hersilia savignyi Lucas 1836, is commonly called Two-tailed spider. Distributed throughout India, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka. Cephalothorax is flat and almost circular, slightly broader than long, with a prominently high clypeus. Anterior and posterior eyes are strongly recurved, anterior laterals positioned half way between the anterior and posterior medians. Legs, except the third pair, very long and slender and are armed with three claws. Tarsi of legs I, II and III two-segmented. Abdomen is flat, almost circular, slightly broader than long. Posterior lateral spinnerets are very long, much longer than the abdomen. The colour is greyish with a darkish lanceolate cardiac area and dark transverse margins posteriorly. Legs and spinnerets annulated with dark rings.

Two-Tailed Spider - Hersilia savignyi

It lives on tree trunks, often spotted on trunks of coconut palms in a head down position. It feeds on moths, ants and other smaller spiders. Cocoon is generally laid in the crevices of trees. It runs round the tree when disturbed. It is a very common spider in our tree barks and exhibits colour variation according to the substrate on which it is found.