A couple of updates

First, an update of the Brown Needletail sketch,as the consensus was that it needed both wingtips blurring!



Second, an update of the hybrid myna sketch to make it more in line with my recent photos.


My last post on hybrids has generated some interesting feedback. Firstly, from KL, our capital city, Banard Lau wrote:

"You wrote in your interesting educational blog, "So, the question is, is this an isolated case, or does this spell bad news for the island population of Common Mynas? Only time will tell!"

Is it possible for the situation to be the other way round?

In Kuala Lumpur, I have observed casually that the Common Myna seems to be 'diluting' the small population of handsome/beautiful jet-black White-Vented Mynas (Acridotheres grandis) with their long black crests. One year, there will be about half a half dozen or so White-vented Mynas. The next year, there will be one or two pairs of half-breeds and only a single pair of pure breed White-Vented Mynas with their long crests."

Then, from Taiwan, Jo Ann MacKenzie wrote: "Taiwan’s native Crested Mynas are being swamped by introduced Javan Mynas much as your native Common Mynas are being swamped by introduced Cresteds."

Those of us who were fortunate to attend the recent talks by Dr David Wells heard how Jungle Mynas have been wiped out wherever the Javan has moved in (from the south), at least partly through hybridization.

So it seems there's a kind of interspecies hierarchy amongst mynas, and that the introduction of an alien species is bad news for those already in the area.