Scaly-breasted Munia

This year’s monsoon was in full swing. That Sunday, when the rain had stopped briefly I saw a large group of Munias gregariously venturing out savoring the newly sprouted grass seeds. The group consisted of both Scaly-breasted Munia (Lonchura punctulata) & White-rumped Munia (Lonchura striata) in them. Even though they were two different species there was no difference in their pecking order nor there was any compitetive fight among them. There were over 40 birds in that group. I used my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV with Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM fitted with Canon EF 1.4x III Extender to capture them. As they were jumping around from bush to bush searching for the tender grass seeds, it was difficult to focus on individual birds. The energy level of these birds are tremendous and they were never stationary.

I could approach them quite close and they were not shy of me. But even at such a close quarters all the photos I got were having a bad background. They were grazing in the midst of clumps of grass. This created a difficult situation where blades of grass were in front as well behind the bird distracting the picture.I was looking for a bird who is sitting slightly away from the group on a twig which did not have a close enough bush so that I can get a nice creamy bokeh. After chasing them for over an hour I could get a few good enough photographs.

Scaly-breasted Munia

Photographing any subject we need to per-visualize the final result. Most of the time we are so engrossed with the subject we tend to forget the foreground as well as the background. For a good photograph all these aspects of the photograph also need to be in place. Nature photography which does not allow you to control most of these parameters, too needs to be confirming to this rule. This is true even though it is much more difficult to achieve in Nature photography than other types of photography.

The White-rumped Munia or White-rumped Mannikin (Lonchura striata), sometimes called Striated Finch in aviculture, is a small passerine bird from the family of waxbill “finches” (Estrildidae). These are close relatives of the true finches (Fringillidae) and true sparrows (Passeridae).

Immersed in Conversation

It is native to tropical continental Asia and some adjacent islands, and has been naturalized in spome parts of Japan. Its domesticated hybrid descendant, the Society Finch or Bengalese Finch, is found worldwide as a pet and a biological model organism.

The White-rumped Munia is approximately 10 to 11 cm in length, with a stubby grey bill and a long black pointed tail. The adults are brown above and on the breast, and lighter below; the rump is white. There is some variation between the subspecies, but the sexes are almost impossible to distinguish in all subspecies; males have a more bulky head and bill.

Scaly-breasted Munia

The White-rumped Munia is a common resident breeder ranging from South Asia to southern China east to Taiwan, and through Southeast Asia south to Sumatra; it frequents open woodland, grassland and scrub, and is well able to adapt to agricultural land use. It is a gregarious bird which feeds mainly on seeds, moving through the undergrowth in groups. The nest is a large domed grass structure in a tree, bush or grass into which 3-8 white eggs are laid. They are often found near water and have been observed feeding on algae. It has been suggested that they obtain protein from their diet of algae often in the species Spirogyra, which grows in paddy fields.

It is a common and widespread bird across its large range, and is thus not considered a threatened species by the IUCN. In fact, it may locally become a nuisance pest of millets and similar grains.

White-rumped Munia

The Scaly-breasted Munia or Spotted Munia (Lonchura punctulata) known in the pet trade as Nutmeg Mannikin or Spice Finch is a sparrow-sized estrildid finch native to tropical Asia extending from India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia and the Philippines. It has been introduced into many other parts of the world and has established in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola as well as parts of Australia and the United States of America. They are found in open habitats including gardens and agricultural fields where they forage in groups for grass seeds.

The Scaly-breasted Munia is 11–12 cm long. The adult has a stubby dark bill, brown upperparts and darker brown head. The underparts are white with black scale markings. The sexes are similar, although males have darker markings on the underside and a darker throat. Immature birds have pale brown upperparts, lack the darker head and with uniform buff underparts can be confused with immatures of other munias such as the Tricoloured Munia.

White-rumped Munia

Scaly-breasted Munias are found in a range of habitas but are usually close to water and grassland. In India, they are especially common in paddy fields where they are considered a minor pest on account of their grain feeding. They are found mainly on the plains but are found in the foothills of the Himalayas although sometimes found up to an altitude of 2500 m and in the Nilgiris they are found in summer up to 2100 m. In Pakistan they are restricted to a narrow region from Swat in the west to Lahore avoiding the desert zone and occurring again in India east of a line between Ludhiana and Mount Abu.It is rare in Kashmir.

Outside their native range, escaped birds frequently establish themselves in areas with suitable climate. Escaped or introduced populations have been recorded in the West Indies (Puerto Rico since 1971), Hawaii, Australia, Japan and southern United States mainly in Florida and California. In Oahu, Hawaii, they compete for habitats with Lonchura malacca and tend to be rare where the latter is present.

White-rumped Munia

The Scaly-breasted Munia is a small gregarious bird which feeds mainly on seeds but also takes small berries of Lantana and other plants. They sometimes form large flocks of as many as 100 birds. Like some other munias, they sometimes feed on algae. They sometimes flick the tail while hopping about. The tail may be flicked laterally and sometimes vertically and will sometimes flick their wings as well. When roosting, they will set in close contact with each other. Birds in a flock will sometimes preen each other. The soliciting bird usually showing its chin. Allopreening is usually limited to just the face and neck. The breeding season is during the rainy season (mainly June to August in India) but can breed at other times.

The calls include a short whistle, variations on kitty-kitty-kitty and a sharp chipping alarm note. The song of the male is very soft but complex and variable and is audible only at close range. This song described as a jingle consists of a series of high notes followed by a croaky rattle and ending in slurred whistle. When singing the male sits very erect with the head feathers raised. The nest is a large domed structure made of loose grass, bamboo or other leaves with a side entrance and placed in a tree or under the eaves of a house.

White-rumped Munia

Pair of Tawny Costers

As you have seen in my earlier blog posts, I am fond of using long lenses for macro photography. My favorite is 300mm lens as it gives you a sufficient distance from the insect and does not distract it. Disadvantage being a heavy rig you can’t hand hold it. It is not a true 1:1 macro by definition. But you get sufficiently close-up photography. My earlier lens 300mm f/4 was excellent in that aspect. Now with my 300 f/2.8 I use a 1.4x tele converter and reduce the minimum focusing distance.

Pair of Tawny Costers

On that day I was looking out for butterflies I found a pair of Tawny Coster (Acraea terpsicore) Butterflies perched on a dry foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) plant. I was using my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV fitted with Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + Canon EF 1.4x III Extender on a Benro C45T Carbon Fiber Monopod. To know more about this butterfly you can check my earlier blog on Tawny Coster here.

Tawny Costers fighting

In my earlier Tawny Coster shoot I had used almost a similar setup. Now with Canon EOS 1D Mark IV and 1.4x TC focusing was much faster and total usable shots from a shoot went up dramatically. Canon 5D Mark II used to hunt for accurate focus which was not the case for 1D mark IV. Canon 5D mark II might be a fine camera due to its full frame sensor and exquisite details, but when it comes to sharp and quick focus it is difficult to beat 1D Mark IV.

Tawny Costers fighting

As soon as I started photographing these two males who were sitting perched on a dry branch, another male tawny coster butterfly wanted to use the same perch. This gave me a great chance to capture butterfly in flight. Unlike birds in flight, butterfly wing movement is quite quirky. Butterflies have strong muscles in their thorax which force their wings up and down on a fulcrum basis. They actually go in a slanted figure 8 motion that propels them forward through the air. It is difficult to get butterflies wings in nicely aesthetic position while in flight unlike birds. Using flash photography you could easily freeze their movement, but here I was shooting using natural light. Since I needed a greater depth of field I was using f/10 aperture. 1/250th or 1/320th was insufficient to freeze their flight completely.

Tawny Costers fighting

As soon as the new entrant reached their perching spot I could see the perched males becoming agitated and trying to ward off the intruder. He tried to displace both the incumbents without any success. This fight went on for quite a few minutes. He tried all his tricks without any use.

Tawny Costers fighting

Male butterflies usually sit in these perches waiting for passing females to mate. Their pheromone guides female butterflies and attracts them towards males. Males usually choose a open place near a free path stalking for females. This is useful for us photographers as it gives a great opportunity to capture them. Unfortunately these two males that day had chosen a dry plant which was in a very crowded place. If I was using any shorter focal length lens my background would have been cluttered by the dried twigs in the background. 300mm + 1.4x lens setting gave me a beautiful creamy bokeh. I was using natural evening sunlight to shoot these photos.

Tawny Coster

After prolonged struggle to displace these males failed, the intruding male chose another twig to perch. This in my opinion was a better place, but photographer’s and butterfly’s judgment do differ. For me the greenish background of the new perch was very eye catching on the tawny color of the butterfly. There was no way of finding out what the butterfly would have thought. Wish I could speak their language!

Mating Trouble

After photographing Female Plain Tiger, I was in the hunt for the Male Plain Tiger. As the Plain Tiger is known to be parasitized at least occasionally by Spiroplasma bacteria which selectively kill off male hosts, a subsequent scarcity of Plain Tiger males might have led to this hybridization and the evolution of the new species Dorippus Tiger (Danaus dorippus). From the color pattern of Danaus dorippus, it can be assumed that the ancient lineage had no black apex on the forewings, a character which is still absent in Danaus dorippus.

Mating Trouble

I was not disappointed as after few hours of hunting for a male, I got a bonus catch of mating plain tigers. I was using my Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM on Canon EOS 1D Mark IV fitted with Canon EF 1.4x III Extender. After adjusting myself to a suitable position where these butterflies were clearly visible I patiently waited for long time to get that momentary glimpse of open wing. During mating period these butterflies hardly ever open their wings.

Mating Trouble

After few minutes I could witness a very brief glimpse of Male Plain Tiger opening his wings. The male Plain Tiger is smaller than the female, but more brightly colored. In addition, male plain tigers have a number of secondary sexual characteristics. The male has a pouch on the hind-wing. This spot is white with a thick black border and bulges slightly. It is a cluster of specialized scent scales used to attract females. The males also possess two brush-like organs which can be pushed out of the tip of the abdomen.

Within few minutes I found another male who came looking for female and found this pair. He was spiraling over the pair and each time he came near the mating male, that male used to open its wing to ward him off. Female was quiet and unmoved during any of these advances. This went on for a long time till both male and female started reacting (see the first picture on the top). After that threat the attacking male went away disappointed.

Mating Trouble

The life cycle of a butterfly is dependent on its ability to find a mate and reproduce. The adult butterfly spends much of its time in search of a mate. Insect flight is characterized into two groups, trivial flight and dispersal flight. A trivial flight involves behavior related to daily needs of the butterfly, while dispersal flights are related to migration. Mate locating behavior in male butterflies is also separated into two main categories, patrolling and perching.

Patrolling species fly through their habitat in search of females. Flight is almost constant in this type of behavior where the male uses the females scent to locate her. Wing color is also important with patrolling males. They instinctively know what the female’s wing pattern looks like and search for that pattern. The male is more attracted to the females predominant wing color than any other color, thus a male may be tricked into following an inanimate object that is the same color as the female.

Mating Trouble

In perching butterflies the males await receptive females in certain places and at certain times. A potential female flies past the male, who then darts out to investigate. If it is a suitable female then mating ensues, if not, the male will return to a roosting area to await another potential female. Females seem to know where the males will be perched; hence it is common to see them fluttering in that habitat waiting for a male.

Roosting areas are genetically fixed in each species and both sexes instinctively go to them. Anything passing through the habitat where a male is perching is likely to attract the male. It is very common to see male butterflies investigating other insects including other butterfly species, flies, dragonflies, bees, and wasps. If the male discovers another 2 male of its species a duel will result. Both males will fly in a spiraling manner upward until one, usually the primary resident, will fly back to its perch. This gives the false impression that butterflies are territorial. This is not true since the males are actually investigating whatever object they see in its view to determine if it is a female. Each of these factors play a vital part in mate-locating behavior and ultimately species perpetuation.

Mating Trouble

The main purpose of courtship is to determine if both individuals are healthy members of the correct species. In order for this to occur, adults use color pattern or odor to accept or reject an individual. Many species identify each other with visible colors or ultraviolet patterns seen on the wings. Ultraviolet is used by many butterflies to both identify mates and nectar bearing flowers.

If a female is ready to mate the male will wait until she lands and then will quickly mate with her without any complicated mating ritual. It is also possible that the two may fly in a zigzag pattern or hover beside each other before mating. Pheromones or perfumes are transferred at this time and a fluttering of the wings may occur. Wing fluttering may be an indication of mate acceptance or rejection. Special wing scales with glands contain the pheromones.

Mating Trouble

Sometimes the scales resemble brush-like tufts of hair on the wings and others resemble ordinary wing scales. If the male carries a pheromone he will usually flutter above the female to release his scent. The mating process lasts from 15 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the species. Small butterflies have a short mating span and large butterflies have longer ones, however, mating time also varies in cooler weather. Both sexes can mate more than once.

The male needs up to 8 hours after mating to produce another spermatophore to mate again, and the female may, in some species, be able to mate almost directly after she has finished with a previous mate. Females in most species are temporarily prevented from mating again due to the spermatophore in her mating tube. As soon as the spermatophore is digested she can mate again. The spermatophore has been the subject of many recent studies, and may play a key role in shaping the characteristics of the butterfly mating system.

Mating Trouble

If a female is unreceptive or has just mated, courtship will be more complicated. Females may perform several moves to discourage a male. For example, females may undergo a “rejection dance” in which she flies vertically into the air and then downward quickly so that the male cannot follow her or gets discouraged and leaves. Unreceptive females may also mimic a male when being approached by a perching male of her own species, this also discourages the male from attempting to mate. Females may simply crawl, fly away, or move her abdomen in between her wings so that a male cannot join with her.

Some species have specialized glands in the female called stink clubs to repel males. The stink clubs waft a foul-smelling chemical that males do not like. Stink clubs are engaged after a female has mated. Rejection in females serves a purpose. As stated above, newly mated females may not need to mate again or unreceptive female may try and encourage aggressive males to mate with her in order to obtain the best genetic material. It is important to realize that the female butterfly is not aware of this, it is simply natural selection at work. Most unreceptive females however may not mate at all.

Mating Trouble

Females in general either mate right away or not at all. After mating the female butterfly must find a suitable host plant to lay her eggs. She may almost be able to lay her eggs directly after she has mated, or she may wait several days. Some species can lay as many as 1,000 eggs but one to two hundred or less is more common. The female will fly slowly and land on many plants while searching for her host. The legs contain special clumps of hair-like taste organs and she will use these to test the plants and identify it. Observing this behavior in females may enable one to find the host plant in a habitat.

When the female has found a host plant she will begin to flutter around it and curve her abdomen downward and forward to lay an egg with her ovipositor. The ovipositor has very sensitive hairs that probably taste the plant as well. Females that lay clusters of eggs may take a long time, an hour or more, and visit the same plant repeatedly. Eggs are usually laid singly and glued to the host. Eggs laid on leaves are placed on the underside in most cases and other females will avoid that leaf when searching for places to lay their eggs. Most butterflies lay their eggs on plants that can be eaten by the larva. This is due to the larva’s poor ability to find food. They see weakly and travel slowly. In most cases if a larva does not find its host plant, it dies. Death can also occur if the larva eats an unsuitable plant. Some however do lay their eggs haphazardly on anything around the host plant.

Mating Trouble