Farr's Emeraldine
Click image to enlarge
For more information about emeraldines, see this post.
Farr’s
Emeraldine, Barbalaetus farrii L 18 cm, WS 28 cm, Family: Barbalaetidae
IUCN Conservation Status: Least concern (LC)
Description:
Medium
sized songbird with long tail and plump body and strong legs. Yellow-brown
upperparts, with slate gray wings and tail, and lighter gray undersides. Slight
whitish edging on wing feathers. Distinctive bright iridescent green “beard” of
throat feathers, unique to the emeraldine group, present only in males. Females
lack green beard, undersides faintly streaked, juveniles like females but juvenile
males will grow beard in patches. On average the smallest emeraldine, though not
very noticeable in the field; best distinguished in males by black cheek and
crown, contrasting highly with lighter body, and in females by darker crown.
Voice:
Least
vocal of barbalaetids. Song is a series of 2-3 buzzy trills raising in pitch. Most
common call is a short, sharp tik. Males have a “dance call” given only
during courtship which is a short rattle.
Range and Habitat:
Common
throughout Novasola’s interior steppe, and the Francis Islands. Less common in
eastern forests. Prefers open ecosystems with dense understory, especially
chaparral, scrub, grasslands, and forest edges. Will also use meadows,
wetlands, and open dry forests. Avoids altitudes higher than about 7,000 ft and
areas without thick understory.
Discussion:
Common within most of its range, the Farr’s Emeraldine is the smallest member of the emeraldine family, Barbalaetidae, entirely endemic to Novasola. Like all emeraldines the Farr’s can be difficult to observe due to their preference for dense undergrowth. They are most easily observed during the spring when males sing to attract mates and defend territories from exposed perches. They prefer more wooded habitats than the Yellow Emeraldine which shares much of their range and are most common in the scrub and chaparral surrounding Fairweather Sound.
In
the summer months, Farr’s Emeraldines eat invertebrates like beetles, crickets,
caterpillars, and millipedes, as well as fruits, seeds, and grains. In the
winter they transition their diets to entirely seeds and berries. Like other emeraldines they are mostly ground foragers and will hop along the ground
rummaging through leaf litter, and they remain close to the ground, rarely
being seen above eye-level.
Emeraldines
are perhaps best known for their courtship displays and breeding behaviors. In
the spring, males will find a well-lit exposed branch near the ground from
which they sing to attract females. Before singing, males will clear the ground
around the perch of any leaves or twigs so that only dirt, moss, or needles are
present. He then decorates the ground around the perch by surrounding it with
brightly colored objects he finds, like berries, flowers, rocks, and litter. It
seems individual birds have different preferences for colors or object types to
decorate with. It is believed that as human trash has become more and more
colorful, Farr’s Emeraldines have been favoring man-made objects in their
collections. Once a female has flown in, she will perch above the male so that
she faces down at him toward the ground and he holds himself almost upside-down
and in direct sunlight. The male then flairs his beard and moves his head from
side to size, making rattling sounds. The Farr’s Emeraldine dance is slower and
less complicated than other emeraldines. If the female is impressed with the
dance and the object collection, the two mate and find a nest location,
abandoning the collection. Both females and males help build the nest and rear
young. Males are more involved with incubation than in other emeraldines. To
build the nest, the pair will find a long, straight twig which they attach to
two vertical stems or branches via weaving plant fibers so that it rests
parallel to the ground, which they use as the central horizontal pole upon
which to affix slanted wooden twigs on either side, much like a tent. They then
weave the twigs together with grass and animal hair, as well as fill the ground
inside the tent with fibers. Like in other emeraldines, young couples during
their first mating season, or couples struggling to find new territory, often
use nests built by other emeraldines that remain standing from previous years. The
resulting tent-like structure is distinctive and often confuses unknowing
hikers who accidentally stumble upon them, though they are found less often
than other emeraldine nests, as they are often better hidden within dense or
thorny underbrush.
Reichwald named the bird after his good friend and fellow expedition member Benjamin Farr, a Novasolan Research Corps scout, woodsman, and wilderness survival expert. The emeraldine's ornately decorated perches and expertly crafted nest structures, the most complex of emeraldine nests, reminded Reichwald of Farr’s skills in ropework and carpentry, and his hobby of art collecting. In recent years there has been an international push to change all eponymous bird names in an attempt to remove "ownership" of species and not to honor problematic historical figures; those who wish to see this bird's common name changed prefer the name "Black-crowned Emeraldine". The Gallquayan name for the bird is s'oow layeiý s'aatík’ or “little/precious green carpenter” and their term for the bird’s courtship decoration piles is kawdigán çáachk’ which translates roughly to "little brilliant rug".
The
Farr’s Emeraldine was the last of its family to be described scientifically by
Richard Reichwald, but the first he actually encountered. At the time, he
thought it the same species as the Common Emeraldine, only years later, after
the NRC expeditions had finished and he was writing Native Birds of Novasola,
did he decide to split them into their own grouping, where they remain today.
His decision to split the species relied mostly on the differences in nest
construction and courtship behavior. The Farr’s Emeraldine is the most studied
emeraldine, and much research has gone into understanding the evolution of their
complex decorating and building behaviors, though much about the bird remains a
mystery.
“After
collecting the writings from all members of camp and delivering them to the
captain’s tent I was free to go about my business until suppertime. I travelled
northeast, along a small, trickling ephemeral stream flowing down to camp from
a shallow ravine. The country was rocky and thick with brambles, mostly
manzanita, sagebrush, buckwheat, and oaks. Not far from camp I spotted a bird
foraging at the base of an oak, well camouflaged against the dry soil, with a
sandy back and lighter belly marked faintly with streaks. It flew off before I
could examine further.” – Expedition log, April 26, 1902
“I
have at last witnessed what locals have referred to as the Emerald Bird, or the
Emerald Bird. A stunning creature, its outstanding feature is unquestionably the
brilliant patch of feathers adorning its throat of piercing green hues that
catch the sun and shine like the precious stones for which they are so named.”
– Expedition log, April 28, 1902
“I
have heard from wild-men of all sorts and capacities during our off-season
interviews tell of monsters and elves residing in the deep places of this
island, which immediately upon hearing I discount, given our job is not one of
superstition or myth but of facts and science. Imagine then, the difficulties I
am faced with now, as I have seen with my own eyes evidence of that folklore.
The Corps has made camp one night back at a bend in the river, densely
foliated, the crew has named The Witch’s Bow. Found this morning not far from
camp was a small hut, built from twigs, no more than 10 inches tall. Slanted
walls were lashed together and again lashed to a horizontal ridge pole, itself
lashed to some oak stems. So expertly was it built that many of the crew
refused to believe anyone but man could have constructed it, and I am inclined
to agree, though Mr. Reichwald assures me it is a bird nest and Mr. Peterson
assures me it must be some burrow. My mind began to consider natives, yet some
of the other men immediately proclaimed it to be witchcraft, and proof of some
other-worldly nature. Believing the area to be haunted, they fled to camp but
one of them stumbled along the way and discovered another oddity even closer to
base: a small pile of white flower petals and gravel placed purposefully around
an oak bush. Hysterical, they saw that as a sign of their intrusion into a
hostile spirit’s domain. To appease the men, we shall stay here only one night
more.” – Captain Virgil Dyer, Expedition log, May 20, 1902
“I
have written already at length regarding the Emeraldine’s mastery at
architecture, but it is just as worthy of note that they try their talents at design.
The Farr’s Emeraldine adds to the dazzle of its courtship display by decorating
its stage with tasteful collections of what we must assume are objects within
which the bird finds artistic merit. Some males choose Blue as their theme and
cover their stage in blueberries and thrush eggshells and coastal bluebell
flowers, while other males might choose Gravel as their theme, and rush to
collect as much grit and stone they can move before exhaustion. Once, during my
time as a Corpsman, I witnessed an emeraldine sneak past the watchful gaze, as he
calls it, of the half-asleep Mr. Jackson to steal his lapel badge, which he was
subsequently punished for having lost. It seems that in pursuit of their vision
the artist, of any species, shall make no compromise in sourcing their craft.”
– Native Birds of Novasola, 1912
 |
| A typical Farr's Emeraldine nest structure is tent-like, with two slanted walls woven together at the top to a longer support beam, with a nest of animal hair, down, and plant fibers inside. Illustration provided by the Museum of Novasola. |