Tuesday 23 July 2013

My name is Maria Capra

 
An interview with Maria Capra

(a.k.a the pied fantail, a.k.a Rhipudira Javanica)

Hello,

Tweet tweet

My name is Maria Capra.

I am a pretty black and white bird. What? You say monochrome is out and colour is in? How dare you! TWEET! I will bite you, for I am known to be territorial and aggressive. So beware, watch your tongue!

Maria Capra (Pied Fantail) with Senor Capra.
Photo by Adri Constantino. Doodling by The City Warbler


Through the ages, I have fought with beasts and giants of all kinds - cats, dogs, even that big menace people call homo erectus or human being! I have even fought with my own reflection!

Ah - yes, it is ok. I can hear your apologies. That is better.

My food....


Well, you can make me happy by inviting me for lunch. I love insects - especially the flying winged variety (Mmmm.... their winds are so crunchy!) - But do remember, I like them fresh. (Yes - I follow Confucious in that matter). If you look close, my bill is ringed with spines (rictal bristles) which help me catch insects, even in dim light. Now, my mother (her name is nature) is smart, is she not?

Pied fantails like to eat winged insects
It has been suggested that by revealing the white tips of the tail, insects are startled into movement 

Is it true that you are among the Top Ten Most Common Urban Birds?


Yes - I received that distinction, along with my friends, including the Eurasian tree sparrow (who many urban idiots mistakenly call the Maya bird - the Maya bird is actually the Chestnut Munia seen so commonly in rice fields even today), the Yellow Vented Bul Bul (yeah - she has a wonderful tinkling gurgling voice) and the Olive Backed Sun Bird.

Can you tell us more about your name ?


Why am I called the pied fantail? Well, pied means "black and white"- which are my colours. Fantail of course is due to my tail, which I spread out like a fan or a Spanish abanico, and move it up and down, especially when I am dancing or hopping about. My broad tail helps me change direction quickly when I am hunting for insects. You see, I like to startle them with my movements, they move, they reveal themselves, I catch them quickly, I reveal my hunger, I revel in  the delight of "fresh catch of the day".


In Tagalog (or rather, Pilipino, to be more politically correct), I am called Sipao, and when I fly around in the Visayan islands, the kids point at me and shout Tarerekoy Tarerekoy! But some people seem confused, as I have also heard people call the bushchat "Maria Cafra". Idiots! Don't they know that we are not even of the same family - let alone species?

Why am I called Maria Capra?


Ah - that is my romanticized name in The Philippines. (Though some people also call me Maria Cafra - due to the habitually intermixed "fa" and "pa" sounds - a hangover of the Spanish colonial era and the mass hispanisation that people indulged in - then and ever since.)

But that still does not answer WHY?


Well - it is nice, it is attractive, it is beautiful, it sounds a lot like Maria Clara, but much stronger than her. You do know who  Maria Clara is, right? The heroine of Jose Rizal's novel Noli Me Tangere who Ibarra falls in love with ? Have you read it? Yes - she looked beautiful in the TV series, but sadly turned out to be a real faint hearted wimp in the novel.
Fantail eat winged insects.
You read?

Of course I do! Have you not heard the phrase "bird brained"?


Well that still does not answer why Maria Capra...


Gosh - you are one pesky person. Well - it is time for me to fly away..
Tweet Tweet - and see you tomorrow - at a garden close to you..

The fantail is known by different names in different places - but the ones I like most are Maria Capra (Philippines) and Muray Gila (Malay - literally means crazy thrush!)

Note :

Maria Capra / Cafra in contemporary times..
  • Maria Cafra is the name of a 1970s Pinoy rock band (Here on Facebook and You tube )


References -

Much of the information used in this post is from the below references, to whom I am indebted. If not for them, I would not have been able to figure out any of the above No copyright violations are intended. All  information posted under Creative Commons License.
  1. Syliva Ramos' Blog
  2. Infosheet on Fantails by Department of conservation, NZ
  3. The call and behavior of the Pied Fantail - Eating a dragon fly - Antics of the Pied Fantail - Bird Ecology study group
  4. Birdwatch Philippines
  5. Blog - When Maria Capra sat on his hand
  6. The Bird Photo Catalogue
  7. Joiz Tolero's blog which led me to Fisher and Hick's book on Birds  of The Philippines
  8. Facebook - Wild birds of Aurora
  9. Ten Most Common Urban Birds - Maria Tanedo
  10. Habits of the Pied Fantail
  11. Photo Blog - A short nesting story of a pied fantail
  12. Pied fantail on the website of everything
  13. A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines by Robert S. Kennedy et al

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