Fulvetta vinipectus vinipectus/kangrae

Singalila National Park, Tumling, West Bengal

It’s easy to assume, with bird names, that we know what they mean, and often that assumption is quite correct. Woodpeckers peck wood, bee-eaters feed on bees, and whitethroats are indeed white around the neck. Other names seem almost wilfully obscure: what on Earth does the name puffin mean? Or hobby? Why are turtle doves named after reptiles? And don’t get me started on some of the more bizarre bird names found around the world – from zitting cisticola, leaflove to hardhead, and bananaquit to bearded mountaineer.

Yet, as I discovered when I was researching the origins of bird names, if you dig deep enough, you unearth all sorts of fascinating stories about what the names mean, where they came from and, especially, the men and women who created them. The origin of some names may, at first, seem obvious, yet are not quite as straightforward as they appear. Take the simplest of all bird names: blackbird. It’s a bird, and it’s black. Isn’t that all we need to know? But what about the crow, rook, raven? They’re black too so why was the Blackbird singled out as a ‘black‘ bird?

The reason for this apparent anomaly is that, until the late medieval period, birds were not called “birds” at all, but fowls – as in Chaucer’s poem The Parliament of Fowls. The word bird (originally the Anglo-Saxon brid), referred only to young fowls, or chicks. Then, sometime around the time Chaucer was writing, this meaning began to shift. From then on, although “fowl” was still used for larger birds such as members of the crow family, “bird” became the norm for all smaller birds, including the blackbird. So, at the time it was named, this really was the only truly “black bird”.

Many of our oldest bird names – including raven, rook and crow – are onomatopoeic: they imitate the sound made by the bird itself. Cuckoo, chiffchaff and kittiwake are other well-known examples. Far less obvious ones include nightjar (from the “churring” sound made by this nocturnal bird), bittern (from its deep, booming call), and the aforementioned turtle dove. “Turtle” is a corruption of the bird’s soft “tur-tur” call, so has nothing to do with the aquatic reptile.

Other ancient bird names relate to a bird’s appearance: its size, colour, shape or distinctive markings. Again, some are obvious: such as great spotted woodpecker, long-tailed tit and the Dollarbird. But with others it takes some linguistic detective work to uncover their true meaning. Take the familiar redstart and wheatear. Both names superficially make sense, yet as soon as you look more closely, they become problematic. After all, redstarts are not noticeably jumpy, and I’ve certainly never seen a wheatear in a field of wheat.

The reason these names appear puzzling is down to the Norman Conquest of Britain. Perhaps the greatest change that resulted from this invasion was in everyday language: within a century or so, Anglo-Saxon had merged with Norman French to create a new, hybrid tongue known as Middle English – the precursor to the way we speak today. But as the old language fell into disuse, some of its words no longer made any sense. So, by a process called false etymology, people made up new versions, which sounded plausible, even if their original meaning had been lost. Thus, the Anglo-Saxon “red steort” (meaning red tail) turned into redstart; and “wheteres” – literally white arse, changed into wheatear. Norman French also had a major influence on the names of ducks (mallard and wigeon), game birds (pheasant and partridge), and raptors (peregrine and hobby).

What these all have in common is that they were important to the Norman nobility – either as food, or for hunting and sport – so their French names took precedence over the older, English ones. From the 18th century onwards, existing names were codified by professional ornithologists who also coined new ones, such as black-tailed godwit or white-fronted goose. A trend also arose for naming birds after people: sometimes those who had discovered the species, such as George Montagu (Montagu’s harrier).

Fulvetta - From the Latin fulvus‎ meaning ("tawny"). Fulvus itself is from a Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥wós‎, from *bʰel- ("to shine") + *-wós (whence -vus).

Now onto the White-browed Fulvetta and the stunning habitat it inhabits - the Singalila National Park.

Singalila National Park

The jungles to the north and east of India are treasure houses to some of the most precious and strange flora and fauna. One such treasure in the east is Singalila National Park in West Bengal. Established in 1986, the park is among the few remaining habitats of the endangered and elusive Red Panda. Located on the Singalila Ridge at an altitude of more than 7000 feet above sea level, in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, it is a well known trekking route to Sandakphu - the 3636 m; 11,930 ft mountain peak on the border between India and Nepal. It is the highest point of the Singalila Ridge and the state of West Bengal, India. Four of the five highest peaks in the world, Everest, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse and Makalu can be seen from its summit. View them in my Wildscapes Gallery.

The forest of Singalila was bought by the British government from the King of Sikkim. Some years after the independence, in 1992, the forest was converted into National park. The area was earlier used as a hiking trail. And it was used by the first mountaineering team that was heading for Mount Kanchenjunga. Incandescent views of the Kanchenjunga Massif adorn the clear blue skies above the Singalila National Park and from various points within the park one can get spectacular views of the mountains spanning from Nepal to Bhutan. River Rammam and River Sirikhola flow through the park.

The park has no significant history of human settlement. However, small settlements have grown up along the trekking route to Sandakphu and Phalut - the 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) second highest peak of West Bengal. There is a reasonably large village at Kala Pokhri, around the lake of the same name. The Singalila Ridge was used as an approach route by the first documented mountaineering team, led by Jules Jacot-Guillarmod and the famous occultist Aleister Crowley, which unsuccessfully attempted to climb Kanchenjunga in 1905.

This entire trip would not have been possible without the monumental help and support of the team at Firefox Expeditions India led by Sourav Mondal and Amardeep Thami.

The approach, expertise and heartwarming attitude of the talented and multi-faceted team of trackers at Firefox Expeditions India was an experience in it self. Led by Sourav and Amardeep, they are well versed with the nuances of the Singalila National Park and intimately aware of the wildlife abounding in these jungles and also the risks and dangers they face - especially the Red Panda. It is evident that they care deeply for these forests take all measures necessary to keep it safe and clean. For them the wildlife takes precedence! The whole team have been doing this for a number of years now and the fruits of their labours are evident as you breathlessly trek up and down the rather steep mountains with them.

Now on to the White-browed Fulvetta.

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White-browed Fulvetta

The White-browed Fulvetta is a bird species in the family Sylviidae. Like the other typical fulvettas, it was long included in the Timaliidae genus Alcippe. Ranging across the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, it is endemic to Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.

The Fulvetta is a songbird genus. Originally proposed in 1877, it was recently reestablished for the typical fulvettas, which were long included with their presumed relatives in the Timaliidae (Old World Babbler) genus Alcippe. But they are actually quite closely related to the family Paradoxornithidae.

Subspecies vary mainly in colour of head side and amount and colour of breast streaking, but race valentinae distinctive, with grey vs brownish (various shades) on crown to mantle; stronger chestnut on rump and wings; blacker head sides (ns); denser breast streaks (ns); and greyer lower underparts; but vocally undifferentiated. Eight subspecies are recognized.

It contains the following species:

• Spectacled fulvetta, Fulvetta ruficapilla

• Indochinese fulvetta, Fulvetta danisi

• Chinese fulvetta, Fulvetta striaticollis

• White-browed fulvetta, Fulvetta vinipectus

• Grey-hooded fulvetta, Fulvetta cinereiceps

• Taiwan fulvetta, Fulvetta formosana

• Manipur fulvetta, Fulvetta manipurensis

• Brown-throated fulvetta, Fulvetta ludlowi

The White-browed is a chunky fulvetta of scrubby, stunted subalpine forests. Striking and unmistakable, with orange-suffused wings, a dark crown, and a bright white throat and brow. It moves through low vegetation in large flocks, sometimes with other species. The song consists of an ear-piercingly high pair of notes followed by a brief sputter including trills, chatters, and whistles.

The white-browed is about 10·5–12 cm and weighs in at a tiny 9–13 g. It is a small fulvetta in soft rich browns and ochrous-buffs with a (usually) pale eye in dark mask and bold white supercilium. The nominate race has the forehead, crown and nape in warm brown with a slight greyish tinge, bordered by blackish-brown lateral crown stripe above the white supercilium from above eye to above ear-coverts. The mantle and neck side are paler and greyer than crown, scapulars, rump and the uppertail-coverts are a dull rufescent brown. The flight-feathers are dark brown, while the outer fringes of upperwing-coverts, tertials and secondaries rufous, outer fringes of inner secondaries are a stony grey. The uppertail dark grey-brown, outer fringes of feathers dull rufescent basally (as rump); lores and cheek blackish-brown, ear-coverts as crown, submoustachial area white with brown stippling; chin, throat and upper breast white (sometimes with very vague pinkish-grey streaking), shading to pale pinkish-tinged or purplish-tinged grey on breast, upper belly and upper flanks, rest of the underparts are a pale dull buff. The iris is white to dark brown (varying partially with race) while the upper mandible is horn-brown to blackish-brown, the lower mandible is pinkish-grey and the legs are dark olive-brown to pale fleshy-plumbeous. The sexes are similar. The Juvenile is rustier above than adult, with less distinct lateral crown stripes and paler flanks. The races differ mainly in plumage tone and pattern, all those E from E Himalayas having the supercilium extending forwards to upper bill base: kangrae has crown and nape warmer brown than nominate, forehead paler and greyer, chin to breast cleaner and clearer, area on neck side and upper flanks pinker; ripponi resembles previous but crown and mantle browner and less rusty, upperparts a shade darker, area behind ear-coverts paler, white broken eyering; chumbiensis is very like nominate, but crown and ear-coverts a shade paler, streaking on throat and breast slightly more pronounced; austeni has head duller brown, lateral crownstripes more reddish-brown, throat streaked with reddish-brown; perstriata has mantle slightly pinkish or vinous-tinged, breast pale pinkish-brown, streaks broader on upper breast; bieti differs from nominate in having less vinous upper flanks, duller rufous in wings, brownish-black ear-coverts, white orbital ring interrupted at the front and rear and with upper part merging with supercilium (to suggest white half-eyering below eye); valentinae is distinctive, greyer on crown and mantle, richer ochrous-rust on back and wings, with blackish ear-coverts, relatively strongly marked streaky chin to breast, and greyish lower breast and belly.

These birds were photographed while we were waiting for the Red Pandas to make their appearance. Read about my experience with these beautiful animals here.

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