The red-knobbed coot is an omnivore, and will take a variety of small live prey including the eggs of other water birds. Its main food in most waters however comprises various waterweeds such as species of Potamogeton for which it commonly dives.
This is a noisy bird during mating, but its vocalisations are quite different from the Eurasian coot. It gives a fast kerrre like the little crake, a harsh ka-haa and a grunting hoot "oot oot" that suggests that the name "coot" might be onomatopoeia, but inspection of the etymology of "coot" fairly decisively negates any such suggestion.
The habits of the red-knobbed coot are practically identical to those of the Eurasian coot. It is much less secretive than most of the rail family. Where it is undisturbed it is likely to bully any intruder, even large birds such as Egyptian geese, if they do not defy its challenges. It can be seen swimming on open water or walking across waterside grasslands. It is an aggressive species, and strongly territorial during the breeding season.
The red-knobbed coot is reluctant to fly and when taking off runs across the water surface with much splashing. It does the same, but without actually flying, when travelling a short distance at speed (to escape a rival, for example, or to dispute possession of a choice morsel). It bobs its head as it swims, and makes short dives from a little jump.
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It is a resident breeder across much of Africa and in southernmost Spain on freshwater lakes and ponds. It builds a nest of dead reeds near the water's edge or more commonly afloat, laying about 7 eggs (or more in good conditions).
The Pacific swallow (Hirundo tahitica) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It breeds in tropical southern Asia and the islands of the south Pacific. It is resident apart from some local seasonal movements. This bird is associated with coasts, but is increasingly spreading to forested uplands. The hill swallow and the welcome swallow were formerly considered conspecific.
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Phrissura is a genus of butterflies in the family Pieridae. The genus is monotypic containing the single species Phrissura aegis.
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The mugimaki flycatcher is 13 to 13.5 centimetres long. It has a rattling call and often flicks its wings and tail. The adult male has blackish upperparts with a short white supercilium behind the eye, a white wing-patch, white edges to the tertials and white at the base of the outer tail-feathers. The breast and throat are orange-red while the belly and undertail-coverts are white. The female is grey-brown above with a pale orange-brown breast and throat. She lacks white in the tail, has one or two pale wingbars rather than a white wing-patch and has a supercilium that is either faint or absent entirely. Young males are similar to the female but have a brighter orange breast, white in the tail and a more obvious supercilium.
The adult Asian fairy bluebird is about 24 to 27 centimetres (9.4 to 10.6 in). The male has glossy, iridescent blue upperparts, and black underparts and flight feathers. The female and first year male are entirely dull blue-green.
The Asian fairy bluebird eats fruits, nectar and some insects. Its call is a liquid two note glue-it.
The genus name Chroicocephalus is from Ancient Greek khroizo, "to colour", and kephale, "head". The specific genei commemorates Italian naturalist Giuseppe Gené.
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Idaea subsaturata is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in the coastal regions of the Iberian Peninsula (from southern Portugal to the eastern Pyrenees), northern Spain and in small populations near Madrid and in northern Portugal. It is also found in isolated populations in France (Depts. Vendée, Deux-Sèvres, Lot, Aveyron, Lozère, Gard, Herault, Aude, Pyrenées Orientales and Var). It is also found in North Africa, from North-eastern Morocco and northern Algeria up to Tunisia and western Libya.
The wingspan is 14–15 mm. The moth flies in up to three generations. In low areas it flies from May to October, in mountainous areas from July to August.
The larvae feed on various herbaceous plants, including Taraxacum officinale, Lactuca sativa, Polygonum aviculare.
Little is known about its breeding habits. The nest is shallow, built of fine twigs and placed in a low tree. The eggs are greenish-white with brown markings concentrated in a ring at the wider end.
The silvery lutung is found across Borneo and Sumatra, as well as in parts of the south-western Malay peninsula, the Natuna Islands, and other nearby islands. It inhabits mangrove swamps and nearby forest regions, and generally avoids travelling far from coasts or rivers.
This species is susceptible to seasonal variation in Malaysia, where they occur in wet- and dry-season forms.
Its body is about 20–30 cm (8–12 in) long with a similar-sized tail. It is greyish/brown with a chestnut belly and a black and white stripe on the side. It is very quick and agile in trees, able to jump a few metres between trees, and rarely wanders on the ground.
Hypolimnas bolina, the great eggfly, common eggfly, varied eggfly or in New Zealand the blue moon butterfly is a species of nymphalid butterfly found from Madagascar to Asia and Australia.
H. bolina is found in Madagascar in the west, through to South and Southeast Asia, Cambodia, the South Pacific islands (French Polynesia, Tonga, Tuvalu, Samoa and Vanuatu), and occurs in parts of Australia as far south as Victoria during summer and autumn, Japan, and New Zealand. Appearances in New Zealand appear to be linked with favourable winds during April–June migratory periods in Australia, with the butterfly being recorded in 1956, 1971 and 1995. No populations have established locally in New Zealand.
H. bolina is a generally common butterfly across most tropical and sub-tropical habitat types, including wet/dry woodland (such as tropical savanna), rainforest and shrubland. It is a common visitor to suburban back yards and other areas of human disturbance. In the Australian tropics, H. bolina is particularly common along tracks, streambeds, and the corridors formed between remnant gallery forest and cultivated sugar cane fields. Both sexes are invariably found in association with one or more larval hostplant species, especially disturbance species such as Synedrella nodiflora, Sida rhombifolia, and Commelina cyanea.
The collared kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris) is a medium-sized kingfisher belonging to the subfamily Halcyoninae, the tree kingfishers. It is also known as the white-collared kingfisher, black-masked kingfisher or mangrove kingfisher. It has a wide range extending from the Red Sea across southern Asia to Polynesia. A number of subspecies and subspecies groups have been split from this species including the Pacific kingfisher, the islet kingfisher, the Torresian kingfisher, the Mariana kingfisher, and the Melanesian kingfisher
Brachydiplax chalybea is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is known by the common names yellow-patched lieutenant, rufous-backed marsh hawk, and blue dasher. It is native to much of eastern Asia, from India to Japan to Indonesia.
This species is found in many types of wet habitat, including brackish and disturbed waters. The males are seen more often, due to their territorial behavior. Females oviposit by "flicking" an egg mass out of the water into rocks and vegetation nearby.