Momordica charantia (commonly called bitter melon; bitter apple; bitter gourd; bitter squash; balsam-pear; with many more names listed below) is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for its edible fruit. Its many varieties differ substantially in the shape and bitterness of the fruit.
Bitter melon originated in Africa where it was a dry-season staple food of ǃKung hunter-gatherers. Wild or semi-domesticated variants spread across Asia in prehistory, and it was likely fully domesticated in Southeast Asia. It is widely used in the cuisines of East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.


Bitter melon has many names in other languages, which have sometimes entered English as loanwords. Following are a few:


This herbaceous, tendril-bearing vine grows up to 5 m (16 ft) in length. It bears simple, alternate leaves 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) across, with three to seven deeply separated lobes. Each plant bears separate yellow male and female flowers. In the Northern Hemisphere, flowering occurs during June to July and fruiting during September to November.
The fruit has a distinct warty exterior and an oblong shape. It is hollow in cross-section, with a relatively thin layer of flesh surrounding a central seed cavity filled with large, flat seeds and pith. The fruit is most often eaten green, or as it is beginning to turn yellow. At this stage, the fruit's flesh is crunchy and watery in texture, similar to cucumber, chayote or green bell pepper, but bitter. The skin is tender and edible.  Seeds and pith appear white in unripe fruits; they are not intensely bitter and can be removed before cooking.
Some sources claim the flesh (rind) becomes somewhat tougher and more bitter with age, but other sources claim that at least for the common Chinese variety the skin does not change and bitterness decreases with age.  The Chinese variety are best harvested light green possibly with a slight yellow tinge or just before.  The pith becomes sweet and intensely red; it can be eaten uncooked in this state, and is a popular ingredient in some Southeast Asian salads.
When the fruit is fully ripe, it turns orange and soft, and splits into segments which curl back to expose seeds covered in bright red pulp.


Bitter melon comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. The cultivar common in China is 20–30 cm (7.9–11.8 in) long, oblong with bluntly tapering ends and pale green in colour, with a gently undulating, warty surface. The bitter melon more typical of India has a narrower shape with pointed ends, and a surface covered with jagged, triangular "teeth" and ridges. It is green to white in colour. Between these two extremes are any number of intermediate forms. Some bear miniature fruit of only 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in) in length, which may be served individually as stuffed vegetables. These miniature fruit are popular in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and other countries in South Asia. The sub-continent variety is most popular in Bangladesh and India.


Bitter melon is generally consumed cooked in the green or early yellowing stage. The young shoots and leaves of the bitter melon may also be eaten as greens. The fruit is very bitter raw and can be soaked in cold water and drained to remove some of those strong flavours.
In Chinese cuisine, bitter melon (苦瓜, pinyin: kǔguā; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khó͘-koe) is valued for its bitter flavour, typically in stir-fries (often with pork and douchi), soups, dim sum, and herbal teas (gohyah tea). It has also been used in place of hops as the bittering ingredient in some beers in China and Okinawa.
Bitter gourd is commonly eaten throughout India. In North Indian cuisine, it is often served with yogurt on the side to offset the bitterness, used in curry such as sabzi or stuffed with spices and then cooked in oil.
In South Indian cuisine, it is used in numerous dishes such as thoran / thuvaran (mixed with grated coconut), pavaikka mezhukkupuratti (stir-fried with spices), theeyal (cooked with roasted coconut) and pachadi (which is considered a medicinal food for diabetics), making it vital in Malayali's diet. Other popular recipes include preparations with curry, deep-frying with peanuts or other ground nuts, and Kakara kaya pulusu in Telugu, a soup with fried onions and other spices. In Karnataka bitter melon is known as hāgalakāyi (ಹಾಗಲಕಾಯಿ) in Kannada; in Tamil Nadu it is known as paagarkaai or pavakai (பாகற்காய்) in Tamil. In these regions, a special preparation called pagarkai pitla, a kind of sour koottu, is common. Also commonly seen is kattu pagarkkai, a curry in which bitter melons are stuffed with onions, cooked lentil and grated coconut mix, then tied with thread and fried in oil. In the Konkan region of Maharashtra, salt is added to finely chopped bitter gourd, known as karle (कारले) in Marathi,  and then it is squeezed, removing its bitter juice to some extent. After frying this with different spices, the less bitter and crispy preparation is served with grated coconut. Bitter melon is known as karate (Konkani: कारांतें) in Goa; it is valued for its health benefits and used widely in Goan cuisine. In Bengal bitter melon is often simply eaten boiled and mashed with salt, mustard oil, sliced thinly and deep fried, added to lentils to make "tetor" dal (bitter lentils), and is a key ingredient of the Shukto, a Bengali vegetable medley that is a mixture of several vegetables like raw banana, drumstick stems, bori and sweet potato.
In northern India and Nepal, bitter melon, known as tite karela (तीते करेला) in Nepali, is prepared as a fresh pickle. For this, the vegetable is cut into cubes or slices, and sautéed with oil and a sprinkle of water. When it is softened and reduced, it is crushed in a mortar with a few cloves of garlic, salt and a red or green pepper. It is also eaten sautéed to golden-brown, stuffed, or as a curry on its own or with potatoes.
In Burmese cuisine, bitter melon is sauteéd with garlic, tomatoes, spices and dried shrimp and is served as an accompaniment to other dishes. Such a dish is available at street stalls and deli counters throughout the country.
Sinhala: කරවිල karavila is the term for it in Sri Lanka, and it is an ingredient in many different curry dishes (e.g., karawila curry and karawila sambol) which are served mainly with rice in a main meal. Sometimes large grated coconut pieces are added, which is more common in rural areas. Karawila juice is also sometimes served there.
In Pakistan, where it is known as karela (کریلا) in Urdu-speaking areas, and Bangladesh, where it is known as korola (করলা|করলা) in Bengali, bitter melon is often cooked with onions, red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt, coriander powder, and a pinch of cumin seeds.  Another dish in Pakistan calls for whole, unpeeled bitter melon to be boiled and then stuffed with cooked minced beef, served with either hot tandoori bread, naan, chappati, or with khichri (a mixture of lentils and rice).
Bitter melon, known as gōyā (ゴーヤー) in Okinawan, and nigauri (苦瓜) in Japanese (although the Okinawan word gōyā is also used), is a significant ingredient in Okinawan cuisine, and is increasingly used in Japanese cuisine beyond that island.
In Indonesian cuisine, bitter melon, known as pare in Javanese and Indonesian (also paria), is prepared in various dishes, such as gado-gado, and also stir-fried, cooked in coconut milk, or steamed.  In Christian areas in Eastern Indonesia it is cooked with pork and chile, the sweetness of the pork balancing against the bitterness of the vegetable.
In Vietnamese cuisine, raw bitter melon slices known as mướp đắng or khổ qua in Vietnamese, eaten with dried meat floss and bitter melon soup with shrimp, are common dishes. Bitter melons stuffed with ground pork are commonly served as a summer soup in the south. It is also used as the main ingredient of stewed bitter melon. This dish is usually cooked for the Tết holiday, where its "bitter" name is taken as a reminder of the bitter living conditions experienced in the past.
In Thai cuisine, the Chinese variety of green bitter melon, mara (มะระ) in Thai, is prepared stuffed with minced pork and garlic, in a clear broth. It is also served sliced, stir-fried with garlic and fish sauce until just tender.  Varieties found in Thailand range from large fruit to small fruit.  The smallest fruit variety (mara khii nok) is generally not cultivated, but is occasionally found in the wild and is considered the most nutritious variety.
In the cuisine of the Philippines, bitter melon, known as ampalaya in Tagalog and parya in Ilokano, may be stir-fried with ground beef and oyster sauce, or with eggs and diced tomato. The dish pinakbet, popular in the Ilocos region of Luzon, consists mainly of bitter melons, eggplant, okra, string beans, tomatoes, lima beans, and other various regional vegetables all stewed together with a little bagoong-based stock.
In Trinidad and Tobago, bitter melons, known as caraille or carilley, are usually sautéed with onion, garlic and scotch bonnet pepper until almost crisp.
In Mauritius, bitter melons are known as margose or margoze.


Bitter melon has been used in various Asian and African herbal medicine systems for a long time. In Turkey, it has been used as a folk remedy for a variety of ailments, particularly stomach complaints. In traditional medicine of India, different parts of the plant are used as claimed treatments for diabetes (particularly polypeptide-p, an insulin analogue), and as a stomachic, laxative, antibilious, emetic, anthelmintic agent, for the treatment of cough, respiratory diseases, skin diseases, wounds, ulcer, gout, and rheumatism.


Momordica charantia has a number of purported uses including cancer prevention, treatment of diabetes, fever, HIV and AIDS, and infections. While it has shown some potential clinical activity in laboratory experiments, "further studies are required to recommend its use". In 2012, the germplasm and chemical constituents, such as momordicin, charantin, cucurbitacin and momordicoside D within several varieties of the gourd, were being studied.
For fever reduction and relief of menstrual problems, there is no scientific research to back these claims. For cancer prevention, HIV and AIDS, and treatment of infections, there is preliminary laboratory research, but no clinical studies in humans showing a benefit.
With regard to the use of Momordica charantia for diabetes, several animal studies and small-scale human studies have demonstrated a hypoglycemic effect of concentrated bitter melon extracts. In addition, a 2014 review shows evidence that Momordica charantia, when consumed in raw or juice form, can be efficacious in lowering blood glucose levels. However, multiple reviews have found that Momordica charantia does not significantly decrease fasting blood glucose levels or A1c, indicators of blood glucose control, when taken in capsule or tablet form. Momordica charantia may be beneficial in diabetes; however, the effects seem to depend on how it is consumed. More studies need to be performed in order to verify this effect.  The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center concludes that bitter melon "cannot be recommended as a replacement therapy for insulin or hypoglycemic drugs".
In the Caribbean, tea brewed from cerasee leaves is a popular remedy for stomach and abdominal ailments. The plant grows wild in many areas, and the tea is made with freshly gathered leaves. The dried leaves in tea bags are also sold commercially and readily available for sale in stores.


Reported side effects include diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, hypoglycemia, urinary incontinence, and chest pain. Symptoms are generally mild, do not require treatment, and resolve with rest.


Bitter melon is contraindicated in pregnant women because it can induce bleeding, contractions, and miscarriage.


Bitter melon tea, also known as gohyah tea, is an herbal tea made from an infusion of dried slices of the bitter melon. It is sold as a medicinal tea, and a culinary vegetable.
Gohyah is not listed in the Grieve's herbal database, the MPNA database at University of Michigan (Medicinal Plants of Native America, see Native American ethnobotany) or in the Phytochemical Database of the USDA – Agricultural Research Service (ARS) – National Plant Germplasm System NGRL.


The Andean motmot or highland motmot (Momotus aequatorialis) is a colorful near-passerine bird found from northern Colombia to western Bolivia.


The Andean motmot and the blue-capped (Momotus coeruleiceps), whooping (M. subrufrescens), Trinidad (M. bahamensis), Lesson's (M. lessonii), and Amazonian motmots (M. momota) were all at one time considered conspecific. The Andean motmot has two recognized subspecies, the nominate Momotus aequatorialis aequatorialis and M. a. chlorolaemus.


The Andean motmot is in general typical of its family: It is a large bird with a stout black bill and a long tail with a "racquet" tip. It is 46 to 48 cm (18 to 19 in) long and weighs 143 to 202 g (5.0 to 7.1 oz). Its back, wings, throat, breast, and belly are green. The crown is black, bordered on the sides and rear with a "diadem" of various shades of blue. It has a black "mask" bordered with blue and a black spot or streak in the center of the breast. The racquets are dark blue.


The Andean motmot is resident in the Andes from Colombia through Ecuador and Peru to La Paz Department in northwestern Bolivia. In Colombia, it occurs in all three major cordilleras, but in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia it is found only along the eastern side of the Andes. In Colombia it ranges in elevation from 1,500 to 3,100 m (4,900 to 10,200 ft), in Ecuador from 1,000 to 2,100 m (3,300 to 6,900 ft), in Peru from 1,000 to 2,400 m (3,300 to 7,900 ft), and in Bolivia from 1,600 to 1,900 m (5,200 to 6,200 ft).
The Andean motmot primarily inhabits humid montane forest, often near steams. It can also be found along forest edges and in secondary forest.


The Andean motmot is assumed to nest in a long burrow in an earth bank like other motmots, but the nest has not been described. A male in breeding condition was collected in September in Colombia.


The song of the Andean motmot has been described as "a monotone boop-oop" , similar to that of rufous motmot.


The IUCN has assessed the Andean motmot as being of Least Concern.


The russet-crowned motmot (Momotus mexicanus) is a species of motmot native to north-western Mexico and central Guatemala.
It is a year-round resident of the tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests and scrubland. The russet-crowned motmot is the most understudied species of motmot in the family Momotidae.
"Russet" refers to the reddish-brown colour of the bird's head and originates from the Latin russus meaning red.


Motmots are a part of the order Coraciiformes which also includes bee-eaters, rollers, todies, and kingfishers. The russet-crowned motmot is one of seven species in the genus Momotus of the family Momotidae.
Russet-crowned motmots are very sedentary because of their strong site fidelity; 60% return to the same nesting areas as the previous year because of the low amount of suitable nesting sites. As a result, gene flow between different populations is limited which can lead to speciation. Reyes et al. found that genetic variation between three populations in Mexico was very high (12.9%) considering that the populations were relatively close.
There are four recognized subspecies of russet-crowned motmots:
M.m. mexicanus
M.m. vanrossemi
M.m. saturates
M.m. castaneiceps
The subspecies M.m. castaneiceps is part of a very isolated population of russet-crowned motmots only found in central Guatemala and could be considered a separate species.


Russet-crowned motmots are relatively small motmots that measure 30.5 to 35.5 cm long and weigh 74 to 104g. Like most motmots, russet-crowned motmots are not sexually dimorphic in plumage. However, females have shorter tail feathers (10 to 15mm) than males (11 to 22mm). Russet-crowned motmots have a rufous crown and nape. They have a green back and green wings with blue-green primary feathers. Their chest is pale green with a black spot and they have an even paler underbelly. Russet-crowned motmots have a long blue tail with a bare section near the tip of the longest central feathers, which creates a dark racket-shaped tip. Their black bills have a slightly serrated edge and curve downwards. Like most motmots, russet-crowned motmots have a black eye-mask which is lined by blue & violet feathers. They have reddish eyes and grey legs and feet. Juveniles have brown eyes and duller plumage. The 4 subspecies vary in morphology; in comparison to M.m. mexicanus, M.m. vanrossemi is paler, M.m. saturates is larger and darker, and M.m. castaneiceps has a darker chestnut crown and its black eye-mask is more extensive.


The russet-crowned motmot produces a low “krrp”, “krrup”, or “kru, krr-up” which is strung together, making a longer call. They can also produce a hollow “ook”. Mated pairs take part in call-and-response duets.


Russet-crowned motmots prefer old-growth forests with closed canopy but they are also found in secondary forests with a lot of canopy coverage. They live in dry and humid tropical forests and clearings up to 1800m in altitude.
Russet-crowned motmots are found along the western coast of Mexico and in an isolated population in central Guatemala. They are common along their range. The subspecies M.m. vanrossemi can be observed in north-western Mexico in Sonora, Sinaloas and Chihuahua. M.m. mexicanus can be found from Sinaloa to Oaxaca along the west coast and M.m. saturates can be found in south-western Mexico and Guatemala. M.m. castaneiceps is an isolated population only found in the Motagua Valley of central Guatemala until recently. In 2018, the distribution of M.m. castaneiceps expanded to the Nentón valley in Huehuetenango which suggests that their range might be growing to western Guatemala.


Russet-crowned motmots feeds on large invertebrates (i.e. grasshoppers, etc.), fruits, and small vertebrates (i.e. snakes, lizards, etc.). They have the typical feeding strategy of the Momotidae family known as "flycatching"; russet-crowned motmots perch on low branches and dart out to catch prey or bite fruit. They return to their perches to eat their catch and they hit their live prey against branches before swallowing it.


Russet-crowned motmots are socially monogamous birds. Females and males pair up during the breeding season and they both care for the brood. Labour is equally divided between the mating pair.
Breeding season is between May to July which is the wet season. Russet-crowned motmots tend to breed once per year. They lay one small clutch of 4-5 eggs per breeding season, which is typical for tropical birds. The incubation period is between 15 to 20 days. Both males and females feed the hatchlings and fledglings leave the nest after a total of 30 to 42 days. Russet-crowned motmots have a 68% hatching success rate and a 56% fledgling success rate. 83% of hatchlings will successfully fly out of the nest. Most of the deaths happen during incubation and the predation of the brood is primarily by snake and iguanas.
Russet-crowned motmots are burrow-nesting birds. Each mating pair digs a tunnel that is 88 to 170cm deep in an earthen, roadside, or river bank. The tunnels are horizontally flat, they can curve and they have an egg chamber. The tunnels are only for breeding but the breeding sites are multi-purpose territories that the russet-crowned motmots use for foraging, roosting, etc. These tunnels are very dependent on the quality of the substrate because they can get flooded or collapse if they are not built in a suitable area. Good nesting sites are hard to find and they are limited by soil type. Loam-textured soils which contain sand, silt and clay are the best substrates for russet-crowned motmots to nest in because they have better drainage, they are easier to excavate, and they offer better ventilation. Since suitable nesting sites are scarce, russet-crowned motmots are strongly sedentary and will return to previous nesting grounds because they already know the quality, food sources, shelters, predators, and breeding performances of that site.


Charre et al. suggest that the lifespan of a russet-crowned motmot is at least 11 years. This estimate is not definitive because it is based on the recapturing of one individual 10 years later.


Territory is very valuable to russet-crowned motmots because of the lack of suitable nesting areas. As a result, Russet-crowned motmots they are very territorial. However, Richard E. Tashian reported seeing russet-crowned motmots in flocks of birds including golden-fronted woodpeckers, white-throated Magpie-jay, coloured thrush, streak-backed oriole and coppery-tailed trogon in Guatemala. This suggests that russet-crowned motmots defend their territories only against individuals of their species which is called infraspecific territoriality. When there is an intruder, the russet-crowned motmot holds a leaf in its beak to display combative behaviour before chasing or fighting the intruder. This territorial behaviour is performed year-round during the breeding and non-breeding season. Both paired and unpaired males and females defend their territory. Mating pairs will react differently towards male intruders and female intruders. They are more aggressive towards a male intruder than a female intruder. When a male intruder holds a leaf, the mating pair get closer to chase or fight him. But when a female intruder holds a leaf, the mating pair holds a leaf as well to warn her.


Russet-crowned motmots wave their tails side-to-side when they see a predator as an acknowledgment of their presence.


Although the IUCN recognizes russet-crowned motmots of least concern for conservation, their habitats are threatened. The suitable nesting sites for russet-crowned motmots are steadily decreasing because of changing climate and human activity. Nest sites are becoming limited because of the higher amount of precipitation associated with climate change which increases the flooding and the collapse of nests. Agricultural use in the Motagua Valley, Guatemala diminishes the available nesting ground of the subspecies M.m. castaneiceps. In addition, fragmented forests increases brood parasitism and predation. The russet-crowned motmot is at risk of becoming endangered if their habitats are not conserved.


Monarda didyma, the crimson beebalm, scarlet beebalm, scarlet monarda, Eau-de-Cologne plant, Oswego tea, or bergamot, is an aromatic herb in the family Lamiaceae, native to eastern North America from Maine west to Ontario and Minnesota, and south to northern Georgia. Its odor is considered similar to that of the bergamot orange (used to flavor Earl Grey tea). The genus name comes from Nicolas Monardes, who described the first American flora in 1569.


M. didyma is a perennial plant that grows to 0.6-1.2 m in height and spreads 0.4-0.6 m. The 7–18 cm long, ovate to ovate-lanceolate leaves with serrate margins are medium to deep green, placed opposite on square, hollow stems. The leaves are minty fragrant when crushed. It has ragged, bright red tubular flowers 3–4 cm long, borne on showy heads of about 30 together, with reddish bracts. It grows in dense clusters along stream banks, moist thickets, and ditches, blooming for about 8 weeks from early/mid to late summer.


This plants attracts hummingbirds and is a larval host to the hermit sphinx, orange mint moth, and the raspberry pyrausta.


Monarda punctata is a herbaceous plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae, that is native to eastern Canada, the eastern United States and northeastern Mexico. Common names include spotted beebalm and horsemint.
It is a thyme-scented plant with heads of purple-spotted tubular yellow flowers above rosettes of large white- or pink-tipped bracts. The plant contains thymol, an antiseptic and fungicide. It was historically used to treat upset stomachs, colds, diarrhea, neuralgia and kidney disease.


Unlike the most familiar Monarda species that have a single flower head on a stem, Monarda punctata has flowers that are stacked up the stem with bracts radiating from the stem, under each flower. Varying in color from light pink to white, the bracts are ornamental longer than the flowers, whereas the flowers (yellow with brown spots) are visible only at close range.


Monarda punctata attracts pollinators in great numbers, especially wasps. Among the wasps that it brings to the garden are beneficial predatory wasps that control grubs, pest caterpillars, and other harmful insects.


Monobia quadridens, also known as the four-toothed mason wasp, is a species of solitary potter wasp found in North America. It grows to a wingspan of 18 millimetres (0.71 in), and feeds on small caterpillars and pollen. There are two generations per year, with one generation overwintering as pupae.


The abdomen of M. quadridens is entirely black, except for a broad ivory-coloured band on the first tergite. The wingspan is typically 11–14.5 millimetres (0.43–0.57 in) for males, and 14–18 mm (0.55–0.71 in) for females. It closely resembles Euodynerus bidens in size and colouration.


Monobia quadridens has a wide distribution in eastern North America. In Mexico, it is found in the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, while in the United States, it is found from New Mexico, Kansas and Wisconsin east to the Eastern Seaboard. The occurrence of the species in Canada has not been explicitly recorded in print, but specimens identified as M. quadridens have been present in Canadian entomological collections for a long time.


Monobia quadridens was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 work Centuria Insectorum, under the name Vespa quadridens.


Monobia quadridens is bivoltine, having two generations in a year. One emerges in summer, while the other overwinters as a pupa before emerging the following spring. Copulation lasts for 30 minutes in M. quadridens, while in most wasp species, it only lasts a minute or two. It nests in a variety of cavities including tunnels abandoned by carpenter bees, old nests built by mud daubers, and hollow plant stems.
The diet of M. quadridens is primarily composed of caterpillars of microlepidoptera, including species from the families Pyralidae, Crambidae, Elachistidae, Amphisbatidae, Gelechiidae and Tortricidae. The diet also includes a large proportion of pollen.


Like many wasps, Monobia quadridens is capable of delivering a sting. The pain caused by the sting of a female is similar to that caused by the bald-faced hornet or the ant Myrmecia nigriceps. Unlike most other wasps, however, the male is also capable of delivering a painful jab like a needle prick, although no venom is injected, so the pain is transient. The male has no stinger and uses the tip of its abdomen.


Monochamus clamator, the spotted pine sawyer, is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by John Lawrence LeConte in 1852.


Monochamus clamator clamator (LeConte, 1852)
Monochamus clamator latus Casey, 1924
Monochamus clamator linsleyi Dillon & Dillon, 1941
Monochamus clamator nevadensis Dillon & Dillon, 1941
Monochamus clamator rubigineus (Bates, 1880)


Monochamus notatus, the northeastern pine sawyer or notable sawyer, is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Dru Drury in 1773, originally under the genus Cerambyx. It is known from Canada and the United States.
The species is native to North America.


Monochamus scutellatus, commonly known as the white-spotted sawyer or spruce sawyer or  spruce bug, is a common wood-boring beetle found throughout North America. It is a species native to North America.
Adults are large-bodied and black, with very long antennae; in males, they can be up to twice the body length, but in females they are only slightly longer than body length. Both sexes have a white spot on the base of the wings, and may have white spots covering the wings. Both males and females also have a spine on the side of the prothorax. Most research done on M. scutellatus focuses on their relationship with burned forests and the logging industry, with interest also being shown in their mating behaviours.


Adults feed preferentially on members of the pine and spruce families for up to seven days after emerging between mid-June and  mid-August. After mating, females chew small egg niches into dead or dying trees or logs, into which they deposit one egg each. Both sexes mate repeatedly with different partners, and females have been found to lay between 15 and 20 eggs on average per lifetime. Once the larvae hatch, they burrow into the phloem and to the cambium, where they continue to feed until emergence. Life cycles ranging from one to four years have been recorded in different areas and specific habitats. About one week after pupae formation, adults emerge from their larval log by chewing through the bark.


In boreal forests where fire has altered the landscape, changes come to plant communities and carbon flux. This change opens up opportunities for immigrant species to move into a competitor-free habitat. Several groups of insects, including the genus Monochamus, have become adapted to exploit these conditions. M. scutellatus is a saproxylic insect, which means that at least part of its life cycle is dependent on either dead or dying wood. For these beetles to successfully colonize a new habitat, such as an area that has been burned by forest fire, it must be of high enough quality and in close enough range.
Studies have shown that several Monochamus species use the pheromones of bark beetles as kairomones to find suitable host habitats quickly and efficiently, enabling them to devote time and energy to other activities. In the cases of succession after fires, the abundance of M. scutellatus is positively correlated with the severity of the fire, the abundance and size of the burned trees, and the distance between burned and unburned land. However, more larvae tend to be found in areas with a larger percentage of unburned forest within 500 metres, which may be related to the dietary requirements of the adult beetles.
Adult females seem to prefer to lay their eggs in trees with thick bark and phloem, and consequently trees with diameters greater than 8–10 centimetres. These trees are more able to inhibit water loss during fires, preserving the quality preferred by females.


M. scutellatus contributes to the ecology of the forest and may impact logging activities. Wood-boring insects can degrade the wood aesthetically by boring holes, and also indirectly as vectors for fungi and nematodes which can cause structural damage.
Allison et al. extrapolated information from one mill in southern British Columbia to suggest that wood-boring insects could cause an annual loss of US$43.6 million per year in British Columbia.   On the other hand, the logging industry also negatively impacts beetle populations. Because saproxylic insects rely on dead or dying wood to complete their life cycles, there must be constant migration between habitats as resources decompose and new areas for colonization appear.
As such, if forest management interferes in natural succession patterns, by methods such as clearfelling, they may induce a gap in habitat continuity which can cause localized extinction of a species.  With the introduction of salvage logging, concerns have been raised about the long-term effects that this practice can have on ecosystems. Salvage logging can directly kill both adult beetles and their larvae by clearing land soon after forest fires.  Delaying this practice for 3–4 years, enough time for  populations to complete a life cycle, would help support the persistence of these saproxylic insects.
The presence of M. scutellatus has been shown to be beneficial in nutrient cycling by affecting microbial activity, the amount of available nitrogen, and the germination of post-fire colonizing flora. Therefore, although wood-boring beetles including M. scutellatus are considered pests of the logging industry, post-fire management strategies should not ignore their importance as nutrient cyclers and facilitators of plant growth.


As with many other insects, both intraspecies and interspecies competition occurs in M. scutellatus over resources. Hughes and Hughes performed experiments to test the results of asymmetric contests of M. scutellatus and M. notatus, the eastern pine sawyer. They found that in M. scutellatus, females laid eggs that were fertilized by the male with whom they were currently sharing a pair-bond with, and the certainty of paternity decreases once the pair-bond is over. Consequently, females are the most valuable resource that males compete over.
As for the females, the majority of their inter- and intraspecies competition was over oviposition holes. Female M. scutellatus individuals often spend over 20 minutes using their mandibles to chew oviposition holes in the bark of trees, which makes a very loud noise and incurs substantial risk of detection by predators. Therefore, it is greatly advantageous for females to steal holes chewed by other females to save time and risk.
The study found that both within and between species, contests between larger resource holders and smaller challengers usually do not escalate and the resource holder retains their territory, but contests between smaller resource holders and larger challengers are more likely to escalate to fighting with the pro- and mesolegs and biting of the legs and antennae. This is likely because Monochamus species have large, strong mandibles which are capable of biting off limbs or antennae, and escalated competitions are usually not worth the risk.
M. scutellatus displays resource-defence polygyny, a mating system in which males defend necessary resources that females require for reproduction. Resources in this case refer to the quality of tree trunk that the male has won; females prefer basal trunk regions with a large diameter. Females then choose mates mainly on the basis of their resources, but when resources are equal, Hughes and Hughes observed that they choose larger males preferentially. Although it has not been proven that large body size is inherited by offspring, it still may be an indicator of fitness and quality.


Monotropa hypopitys, the so-called Dutchman's pipe, false beech-drops, pinesap, or yellow bird's-nest, is a herbaceous perennial plant, formerly classified in the families Monotropaceae or Pyrolaceae, but now included within the subfamily Monotropoideae of the family (Ericaceae). It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and is scarce or rare in many areas. However, it is still the most widespread member of the subfamily. While currently included in the genus Monotropa, recent genetic evidence strongly suggests that Monotropa hypopitys should be placed in its own genus, Hypopitys, with the single species Hypopitys monotropa Crantz, but possibly containing several other species.
Unlike most plants, it does not contain chlorophyll; it is a myco-heterotroph, getting its food through parasitism upon fungi rather than photosynthesis. These fungi form a mycorrhiza with nearby tree species.
Plants are fleshy and grow 10–35 cm tall. True stems are nonexistent.  Instead, the only part which emerges from the soil are unbranched adventitious inflorescences which are developmentally similar to adventitious roots. All parts of the plant are pale yellowish white to reddish-tinged. The bracts are 5–10 mm long scale-like structures, which cover most of the inflorescence. Plants flower from April to December depending on the geographic region (May to October in North America).  The flowers are pendulous when young, but become erect when they begin to mature into the fruit which is a capsule. The flowers are 9–12 mm long and produced in a cluster of 1–11 together at the apex of the inflorescence, which is a raceme. It flowers between early summer and mid autumn; plants that flower in summer are yellow and sparsely hairy, while those that flower in autumn are red and densely hairy. These two color "forms" overlap in flowering time. It has been suggested that yellow individuals are largely self-pollinating.
The species name is from Latinized Greek hypo-, "under", and pitys, "pine", referring to where pinesap often grows.  However, Linnaeus misspelled it hypopithys.  Many authorities have followed his spelling.  On the other hand, it has been stated that the spelling "is generally treated as correctable to 'hypopitys'", as followed by other authorities. The variability of the species in colour, hairiness, and in the number of flowers, has led to an extensive synonymy for the species. The entire list is over 80 synonyms; some of which include Hypopitys americana, H. fimbriata, H. insignata, H. lanuginosa, H. latisquama, H. monotropa, Monotropa chinensis, M. hypophegea, M. lanuginosa, M. latisquama, M. multiflora and M. taiwaniana.
In California, Monotropa hypopitys may be confused for the much less common Pityopus or Hemitomes which are superficially similar.


Monotropa uniflora, also known as ghost plant, ghost pipe, or Indian pipe, is an herbaceous perennial plant native to temperate regions of Asia, North America, and northern South America, but with large gaps between areas. The plant is sometimes completely waxy white, but often has black flecks or pale pink coloration. Rare variants may have a deep red color.


The stems reach heights of 5–30 centimetres (2–12 in), sheathed with highly reduced leaves 5–10 millimetres (3⁄16–3⁄8 in) long, best identified as scales or bracts. These structures are small, thin, and translucent; they do not have petioles but instead extend in a sheath-like manner out of the stem.
As its scientific name suggests, and unlike the related Monotropa hypopitys (but like the close relation Monotropastrum humile), the stems bear a single flower 10–20 mm (3⁄8–13⁄16 in) long, with 3–8 translucent petals, 10–12 stamens and a single pistil. It flowers from early summer to early autumn, often a few days after rainfall. The fruit, an oval capsule-like structure, enlarges and becomes upright when the seeds mature, at this point stem and capsule looking desiccated and dark brown or black.
The seeds of M. uniflora are small, ranging between 0.6–0.8 mm (3⁄128–1⁄32 in) in length.
Unlike most plants, it is white and does not contain chlorophyll. Instead of generating food using the energy from sunlight, it is parasitic, and more specifically a mycoheterotroph. Its hosts are certain fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees, meaning it ultimately gets its food from photosynthetic trees. Since it is not dependent on sunlight to grow, it can grow in very dark environments as in the understory of dense forest. The complex relationship that allows this plant to grow also makes propagation difficult.


M. uniflora is found in three general distribution areas: Asia, North America, and Central and northern South America. DNA analysis has shown that these three populations are genetically distinct from one another. Furthermore, the North American population and the Central/South American population appear to be more closely related to each other than either are related to the Asian population.
The species has 48 chromosomes.


It was formerly classified in the family Monotropaceae, but is now included within the Ericaceae. It is of ephemeral occurrence, depending on the right conditions (moisture after a dry period) to appear full grown within a couple of days.


The flowers of M. uniflora are visited by various bee and fly species, most commonly bumblebees. Bumblebees are an important pollen dispersal agent for the plant.
Like most mycoheterotrophic plants, M. uniflora associates with a small range of fungal hosts, all of them members of Russulaceae.
It is often associated with beech trees.


The plant contains glycosides and may be toxic to humans.


In addition to various reported medical uses, the plant has been used as an anxiolytic in herbal medicine since the late 19th century.
Despite possibly being toxic, the entire plant can be cooked, which lends it an asparagus-like flavor.


Monstera tacanaensis was treated as a synonym of Monstera deliciosa, however it is a closely related but different species.


Morinda citrifolia is a fruit-bearing tree in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. Its native range extends across Southeast Asia and Australasia, and was spread across the Pacific by Polynesian sailors. The species is now cultivated throughout the tropics and widely naturalized. Among some 100 names for the fruit across different regions are the more common English names of great morinda, Indian mulberry, noni, beach mulberry, and cheese fruit.
The fresh fruit's strong, vomit-like odor has made it a famine food in most regions, but it remains a staple food among some cultures, and has been used in traditional medicine. In the consumer market, it has been introduced as a supplement in various formats, such as capsules, skin products, and juices.


Morinda citrifolia grows in shady forests, as well as on open rocky or sandy shores. It reaches maturity in about 18 months, then yields between 4 and 8 kg (8.8 and 17.6 lb) of fruit every month throughout the year. It is tolerant of saline soils, drought to conditions, and secondary soils. It is therefore found in a wide variety of habitats: volcanic terrains, lava-strewn coasts, and clearings or limestone outcrops, as well as in coralline atolls. It can grow up to 9 m (30 ft) tall, and has large, simple, dark green, shiny and deeply veined leaves.
The plant bears flowers and fruits all year round. The fruit is a multiple fruit that has a pungent odor when ripening, and is hence also known as cheese fruit or even vomit fruit. It is oval in shape and reaches 10–18 centimetres (3.9–7.1 in) size. At first green, the fruit turns yellow then almost white as it ripens. It contains many seeds.
Morinda citrifolia is especially attractive to weaver ants, which make nests from the leaves of the tree. These ants protect the plant from some plant-parasitic insects.  The smell of the fruit also attracts fruit bats, which aid in dispersing the seeds. A type of fruit fly, Drosophila sechellia, feeds exclusively on these fruits.


A variety of beverages (juice drinks), powders (from dried ripe or unripe fruits), cosmetic products (lotions, soaps), oil (from seeds), leaf powders (for encapsulation or pills) have been introduced into the consumer market.


Noni is sometimes called a "starvation fruit", implying that it was used by indigenous peoples as emergency food during times of famine. Despite its strong smell and bitter taste, the fruit was nevertheless eaten as a famine food, and, in some Pacific Islands, even as a staple food, either raw or cooked. Southeast Asians and Australian Aboriginals consume the fruit raw with salt or cook it with curry. The seeds are edible when roasted. In Thai cuisine, the leaves (known as bai-yo) are used as a green vegetable and are the main ingredient of kaeng bai-yo, cooked with coconut milk. The fruit (luk-yo) is added as a salad ingredient to some versions of somtam.


Green fruit, leaves, and root or rhizomes might have been used in Polynesian cultures as a general tonic, in addition to its traditional place in Polynesian culture as a famine food. Although Morinda is considered to have biological properties in traditional medicine, there is no confirmed evidence of clinical efficacy for any intended use. In 2018, a Hawaiian manufacturer of noni food and skincare products was issued an FDA warning letter for marketing unapproved drugs and making false health claims in violation of the US Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.


Among Austronesian peoples, noni was traditionally used primarily for the production of dyes. It was carried into the Pacific Islands as canoe plants by Austronesian voyagers. Morinda bark produces a brownish-purplish dye that may be used for making batik. In Hawaii, yellowish dye is extracted from its roots to dye cloth.


Morinda citrifolia fruit powder contains carbohydrates and dietary fibre in moderate amounts. These macronutrients evidently reside in the fruit pulp, as M. citrifolia juice has sparse nutrient content. The main micronutrients of M. citrifolia pulp powder include vitamin C, niacin (vitamin B₃), iron and potassium. Vitamin A, calcium and sodium are present in moderate amounts. When M. citrifolia juice alone is analyzed and compared to pulp powder, only vitamin C is retained in an amount (34 mg per 100 gram juice) that is 64% of the content of a raw navel orange (53 mg per 100 g or 89% of the Daily Value). Sodium levels in M. citrifolia juice (about 3% of Dietary Reference Intake, DRI) are high compared to an orange, and potassium content is moderate.
Morinda citrifolia fruit contains a number of phytochemicals, including lignans, oligo- and polysaccharides, flavonoids, iridoids, fatty acids, scopoletin, catechin, beta-sitosterol, damnacanthal, and alkaloids. Although these substances have been studied for bioactivity, research is insufficient to conclude anything about their effects on human health.


Mormidea lugens is a species of stink bug in the family Pentatomidae found in the Caribbean, Central America, and Eastern North America. In Illinois, adults have been observed emerging from overwintering sites in late April, and continue to be observed until early November, and appear to be bivoltine in this area. Eggs are approximately 0.7 millimetres (0.028 in) in diameter, pale yellow, and laid in small clusters of 6 to 11 eggs (mean = 9.6). Adults are bronze in color, with a white-yellow border around the scutellum, and are 5.0–7.2 millimetres (0.20–0.28 in) in length. In laboratory conditions, at approximately 24 °C (75 °F), development from eggs to adults has been documented to take between 39 and 50 days, and appears to be affected by the species of host plant. Mormidea lugens has been documented to feed on timothy, sedges (including Carex shortiana, C. amphibola, C. normalis), as well as deer-tongue grass (Panicum clandestinum), and Bosc's panic-grass (P. boscii). It has been collected from pale sedge (C. blanda) and wide-leaved spiderwort (Tradescantia subaspera) but has not observed feeding on these species, and deer-tongue grass appears to be an insufficient food source for development.


Morus rubra, commonly known as the red mulberry, is a species of mulberry native to eastern and central North America. It is found from Ontario, Minnesota, and Vermont south to southern Florida, and west as far as southeastern South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and central Texas. There have been reports of isolated populations (very likely naturalized) in New Mexico, Idaho, and British Columbia.
Common in the United States, it is listed as an endangered species in Canada, and is susceptible to hybridization with the invasive white mulberry (M. alba), introduced from Asia.


Red mulberry is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree, growing to 10–15 metres (35–50 feet) tall, rarely 21 m (70 ft), with a trunk up to 50 centimetres (20 inches) in diameter. It can live up to 125 years.
The leaves are alternate, 7–18 cm (2+3⁄4–7 in) long (rarely to 36 cm or 14+1⁄4 in) and 8–12 cm (3+1⁄4–4+3⁄4 in) broad (about twice as big as the white mulberry's leaves), simple, broadly cordate, with a shallow notch at the base, typically unlobed on mature trees although often with 2–3 lobes, particularly on young trees, and with a finely serrated margin. Unlike the leaves of white mulberry (M. alba) which have a lustrous upper surface, the red mulberry leaf upper surface is noticeably rough, similar in texture to fine sandpaper, and the underside is densely covered with soft hairs. The leaf petiole exudes milky sap when severed. The leaves turn yellow in autumn.
The flowers are relatively inconspicuous: small, yellowish green or reddish green and opening as leaves emerge.  Male and female flowers are usually on separate trees although they may occur on the same tree.
The fruit is a compound cluster of several small achenes surrounded by a fleshy calyx, similar in appearance to a blackberry, 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4 in) long. It is initially pale green, ripening to red or dark purple.


Red mulberry is hardy to subzero temperatures, relatively hardy to drought, pollution, and poor soil, though the white mulberry is hardier.
The berries are widely sought after by birds in spring and early summer in North America; as many as 31 species of birds have been recorded visiting a fruiting tree in Arkansas.


The berries are edible and sweet.
The wood may be dried and used for smoking meats with a flavor that is mild and sweet.
Some Native American tribes used an infusion of the bark as a laxative or purgative. Infusions of the root were used to treat weakness and urinary ailments. The sap was applied to the skin to treat ringworm.Choctaw people wove clothing from the inner bark of young M. rubra and similar shoots.
The first English colonists to explore eastern Virginia in 1607 mentioned the abundance of both mulberry trees and their fruit, which was eaten (sometimes boiled) by the native Powhatan tribes.
Today, mulberries are eaten raw, used in the fillings of pastries, and fermented into wine.


The Australasian gannet (Morus serrator), also known as the Australian gannet or tākapu, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. Adults are mostly white, with black flight feathers at the wingtips and lining the trailing edge of the wing. The central tail feathers are also black. The head is tinged buff-yellow, with a pale blue-grey bill edged in black, and blue-rimmed eyes. Young birds have mottled plumage in their first year, dark above and light below. The head is an intermediate mottled grey, with a dark bill. The birds gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years.
The species range over water above the continental shelf along the southern and eastern Australian coastline, from Steep Point in Western Australia to Rockhampton, Queensland, as well as the North and South Islands of New Zealand, Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. Nesting takes place in colonies along the coastlines of New Zealand, Victoria and Tasmania—mostly on offshore islands, although there are several mainland colonies in both countries. Highly territorial when breeding, the Australasian gannet performs agonistic displays to defend its nest. Potential and mated pairs engage in courtship and greeting displays. The nest is a cup-shaped mound composed of seaweed, earth, and other debris, built by the female from material mainly gathered by the male. A single pale blue egg is laid yearly, though lost eggs may be replaced. The chick is born featherless but is soon covered in white down. Fed regurgitated fish by its parents, it grows rapidly and outweighs the average adult when it fledges.
These birds are plunge divers and spectacular fishers, plunging into the ocean at high speed. They eat mainly squid and forage fish that school near the surface. The species faces few natural or man-made threats, and since its population is growing it is considered to be a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).


Sir Joseph Banks shot three Australasian gannets in New Zealand waters on 24 December 1769 off Three Kings Islands. The birds were cooked in a goose pie, which was enjoyed by the sailors, for Christmas the next day. Daniel Solander wrote a formal description, noting its differences from the familiar northern gannet, initially giving it the name Pelecanus chrysocephalus before crossing it out and changing it to Pelecanus sectator. Sydney Parkinson illustrated the bird as P. sectator, which was misread as P. serrator by later authorities. The species name has been translated as "sawyer", from serra "saw", and linked to the serrated bill.
John Gould described specimens from the Derwent River and Actaeon Island in Tasmania as Sula australis in 1841. The binomial name Sula australis had already been used by J. F. Stephens for the red-footed booby. English zoologist George Robert Gray wrote of the species in 1843, initially using Gould's name but soon switching to Sula serrator, based on Parkinson's drawing. Although Gould stuck with S. australis, S. serrator became the preferred term over time.
"Australasian gannet" has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). It is also known as Pacific gannet and, in Australia, as Australian gannet, diver (from its plunge-diving), booby, or solan goose. In New Zealand it is also known by the Māori name tākapu or tākupu, a word of wider Polynesian origin for a gannet or booby.
The Sulidae, the gannets and boobies, appeared about 30 million years ago. Early Sulidae fossils most resembled the boobies, although they were more aquatic, the gannets splitting off later, about 16 million years ago. The gannets evolved in the northern hemisphere, later colonising the southern oceans. The most ancient extant species may be the Abbott's booby, possibly the sole survivor of an otherwise extinct separate lineage. A 2011 genetic study of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA suggests that the ancestor of the gannets arose around 2.5 million years ago before splitting into northern and southern lineages. The latter then split into the Cape and Australasian gannets around 0.5 million years ago. The three gannets are generally considered to be separate species forming a superspecies, though they have also formerly been classified as subspecies of the northern gannet (Sula bassanus).


An adult Australasian gannet is 84–91 cm (33–36 in) long, weighs 2.3 kg (5.1 lb), and has a 170–200 cm (67–79 in) wingspan. The two sexes are generally of a similar size and appearance, though a 2015 field study at Pope's Eye and Point Danger colonies found females to be 3.1% and 7.3% heavier respectively. Females also had a slightly larger ulna and smaller bill. The plumage is white with black flight feathers on the wings, and central rectrices of the tail. Some individuals have more extensive black plumage of their tail feathers. There is a sharp demarcation between light and dark plumage. Black primary feathers are more resilient to wear, which may explain the dark plumage of the wings. The head and hindneck are tinged buff-yellow. The colour is more pronounced on the head and during breeding season. The eyes have a light grey iris surrounded by a pale blue eye ring, and bare black skin on the face which merges into the bill. In adults, the bill is pearly grey with dark grey or black edges, and a black groove running down the length of the upper mandible. The four-toed feet are dark grey and joined by a membrane of similar colour. There are light green lines running along the ridges of the toes that continue along up the front of the legs.
Fledglings are brownish-grey speckled with white overall. They have dark brown bills, bare facial skin and eyes, and dark grey legs and feet. Australasian gannets take 2–5 years to gain adult plumage. Over this period, the upperparts and underparts gradually whiten and the crown and nape become buff-coloured, but there is great variation in the age that mature plumage is seen.
This species is distinctive and only likely to be confused with species that do not generally share its range. The Cape gannet is a rare vagrant to Australasian waters and has an all-black tail, while the masked and red-footed boobies are generally restricted to tropical waters. Although both have mostly white plumage, they lack the buff colouring of the head and have white tails. The masked booby has a blue-black face and less black on the wing, while the red-footed booby has red feet.


The Australasian gannet is generally silent at sea and loud and vocal at the colony in the day and at times overnight during the breeding season. Its typical call is a harsh arrah-arrah or urrah-urrah, which is emitted upon approaching or arriving at the colony or as a threat. The calls can vary between individuals, and the female's call is lower pitched than the male's.


The Australasian gannet is found from Steep Point in Western Australia, along the southern and eastern Australian coastline to the vicinity of Rockhampton in Queensland, as well as the North and South Islands of New Zealand, Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. At sea, it is generally restricted to waters over the continental shelf, and may enter harbours, bays and estuaries, particularly in stormy weather. Over May and June, young gannets from New Zealand colonies disperse to the north and west, mainly flying north around the North Island and (to a lesser extent) via the Cook Strait. They generally reach as far as southeastern Queensland and Rottnest Island in Western Australia. Far-wandering gannets are occasional visitors to Marion Island and the Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, and have even reached South Africa where they have interbred with Cape gannets. Some immature gannets spend 3 to 4 years in Australian waters before returning to New Zealand, while others remain in New Zealand waters.


Breeding colonies are mostly on offshore islands, though several mainland colonies exist in Australia and New Zealand. Numbers of Australasian gannet have been increasing since 1950, although some colonies have disappeared and others have decreased in size. Between 1980 and 2000, the population in Australian waters increased from approximately 6,600 to 20,000 breeding pairs. The most recent comprehensive New Zealand census was in 1981, yielding an estimate of 46,600 pairs, estimated to have increased to around 55,000 pairs in 2006. Colony location is related to sea temperature, which in turn dictates the presence of fish. Many colonies have limited space and birds seek new locations once the nest sites in a colony are full, at this point often spilling over onto the mainland.
In Victoria, there are colonies at Lawrence Rocks near Portland, and Pope's Eye and Wedge Light in Port Phillip near Melbourne. The colony on Lawrence Rocks increased from 200 pairs in 1873 to around 3,100 pairs in 1996–97, by which time all available space on the island had been filled. Gannets began roosting at Point Danger—the closest point on the mainland itself—in 1995, and began nesting the following year after a fox-proof fence was erected around the site. The only nesting locale on mainland Australia itself, the Point Danger colony, has increased steadily, reaching 660 pairs in 1999–2000. Located 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northeast of Portsea, Pope's Eye is a low artificial semicircular stone breakwater. Gannets began breeding on manmade structures in Port Phillip in 1966, with three pairs at Wedge Light. By the 1999–2000 season, there were 507 pairs there, and on seven other artificial structures around the bay.
In Tasmania, there are colonies at Eddystone Rock and Pedra Branca off the south coast, and in Bass Strait at Cat Island off Flinders Island, and Black Pyramid Rock off the northwest coast. The colony on Black Pyramid grew from 500 pairs in 1961 to 12,300 pairs in 1998. Eddystone Rock increased from 20 pairs in 1947 to 189 pairs in 1998, and Pedra Branca grew from 1000 pairs in 1939 to 3,300 pairs by 1995, but both these sites have little or no room for expansion. Conversely, the colony at Cat Island fell from an estimated 5–10,000 pairs in 1908 to negligible numbers by the turn of the millennium due to predation.
In New Zealand, almost all breeding colonies are on or around the North Island. Kārewa / Gannet Island, 19 kilometres (12 mi) offshore from Kawhia, was named as 'Gannet Island' by Captain James Cook in January 1770 for the gannets seen there and 8,003 pairs were counted in a 1981 census. Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, 55 kilometres (34 mi) north-west of Cape Reinga, contained New Zealand's largest offshore gannet colonies, with 9,855 pairs across five smaller colonies in 1981; an aerial survey in 2014–15 found that it had shrunk to 6,402 pairs. Whakaari / White Island, 48 kilometres (30 mi) offshore in the Bay of Plenty and comprising five smaller colonies, also saw a reduction in numbers, from 6,662 pairs in 1980–81 to 5,306 pairs in 2014–15. The colony at Cape Kidnappers in Hawke's Bay is thought to have been settled around 1850, with 100 pairs reported in 1885. It had 5,186 pairs counted in a 1981 census. Muriwai, near Auckland, comprises a mainland colony on Okatamiro Point, estimated at 1,385 pairs in 2016, while nearby Motutara (Pillar Rock) had 187 pairs. Gannets established a colony on Tikitiki Rock (Nine Pin Rock) in the outer Bay of Islands in 2007, which had around 70 pairs by 2017. A small colony was established at Young Nick's Head in 2008.
On the South Island, gannets began breeding at the end of Farewell Spit in 1983, in an area known as Shellbanks—a 2 m (7 ft) high area of shells and driftwood interspersed with low vegetation: marram (Ammophila arenaria), sea rocket (Cakile edentula), velvety nightshade (Solanum chenopodioides) and sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus). Strong winds allow gannets to take off vertically most of the time, and the decline in commercial fishing in nearby Golden Bay and Tasman Bay is thought to have increased food supply. The breeding area is cut off from the mainland by high tides, but can be badly impacted by storms. It grew by around 11% per year, reaching an estimated 3,900 pairs in 2011.
Little Solander Island in Foveaux Strait hosts the southernmost gannet colony, around 20 pairs recorded on most visits between 1948 and 1986, with one count of 62 pairs in 1984 possibly anomalous.


The Australasian gannet is generally solitary when out at sea, though once a bird has found fish to hunt, other gannets may notice and join it. It is gregarious on land, nesting in colonies. Non-breeding gannets often form groups on the outskirts of the colony. Small numbers of gannets may remain around the colony site outside of the breeding season, using it as a roosting site.


Gannet pairs form monogamous and long term bonds, and pairs may remain together over several seasons until one member dies, although they have been known to separate. The Australasian gannet is highly territorial when nesting, engaging in agonistic displays to mark their ground against neighbours and interlopers. In the bowing display, the male's head and beak point down, and its wings are held up and away from the body, yet folded backwards. He moves his head from side to side before bowing forwards. The male may escalate by lunging at an interloper, either with a closed or open bill, or proceed to locking bills and wrestling for an extended period. Fights can be fatal on occasion. A bird may engage in an appeasement display to calm an attacker by lowering its head and tucking its bill in its chest.
Mated pairs engage in a fencing display when the male arrives back at the nest. The two birds stand breast to breast with wings spread and bills extended vertically. They fence and scissor with their bills rapidly, calling loudly at the same time. Fencing is interspersed with bill bowing. The birds generally follow this exchange with allopreening. Mated pairs also engage in sky-pointing, where a bird paces slowly with its neck and bill vertical and its wings partly raised. Copulation takes place after allopreening, the female shaking her head vigorously and the male biting her neck and climbing on her back and waving his wings before joining their cloacae. Afterwards the female preens the male, who slides off his partner and reciprocates preening.
The breeding season is generally from July to February, with marked differences between locations. On Motukaramarama Island, the gannets return in mid-June, laying eggs between 20 July and 7 August. The chicks hatch from 10 October to 2 November and fledge from late December. At Cape Kidnappers, the gannets return in late July, laying eggs from early September to the end of October. The chicks fledge from early February. At Pope's Eye, gannets lay eggs between early August and December, the median and mean being laid in September. Younger parents tend to lay eggs later in the year than older parents. Within colonies, there is a wider variation in breeding dates compared to the northern gannet, thought to be due to the absence of a tight breeding 'window' from strongly seasonal weather.
The preferred nesting sites are on flat or gently sloping ground or broad, flat ledges, on offshore islands, stacks or elevated areas on the mainland such as cliff-tops, generally between 15 and 90 metres (49 and 295 ft) above sea level. The ground may be bare or bear low shrubs such as Coprosma, Mesembryanthemum, Bulbine or grasses. The nests themselves are cup-shaped mounds 10–20 centimetres (3.9–7.9 in) high with a 30 cm (12 in) deep basin, made from seaweed, plants, earth and debris from the sea. The males usually collect the materials and give them to the females, who construct the nests. One egg is laid that can weigh anywhere from 84 to 125 g (3.0 to 4.4 oz), with an average of 99.8 g (3.52 oz). Matt pale blue and with an elongated egg shape, it measures 65–89 millimetres (2.6–3.5 in) long by 35–53 millimetres (1.4–2.1 in) wide. The egg surface fades to a white when dry and it has a chalky coating. Generally, only one brood takes place each season, though eggs and chicks up to eight days old will be replaced if lost. Incubation takes 37–50 days and is done mainly by the female, keeping the eggs warm on top of its webbed feet.
Newly hatched chicks are featherless and have black skin, their eyes opening at 2–3 days of age. They are covered with white down by two weeks old. The first proper feathers to appear are flight feathers, which appear between days 43 and 47. The chick becomes half-covered by feathers by 9 weeks of age. Young chicks are fed regurgitated semi-digested fish by their parents, who open their mouths wide for their young to fetch the food from the back of their throats.
The young birds fledge 95–109 days after hatching, heading to a nearby clifftop and remaining there for anywhere from 6 hours to 3 days before flying. Weighing on average 73.2 grams (2.58 oz) when born, they reach 2,350 grams (83 oz)—exceeding that of adult birds—by day 50 and 3,132 grams (110.5 oz) by day 90. Unlike young northern gannets, juvenile Australasian gannets are able to fly by the time they fledge and have fully grown primary flight feathers. They have smaller fat reserves, which may reflect a poorer food supply.
Young individuals return to the colonies when they are three years old, and begin breeding between four and seven years of age. The typical lifespan is estimated to be around 20 years. The maximum age recorded from banding has been 30 years 8.2 months; a bird tagged at Cape Kidnappers in January 1955 was found dead some 2,587 km (1,607 mi) away at Tangalooma in Moreton Bay, Queensland in September 1985. The longest distance travelled is 8,128 km (5,051 mi); a bird tagged at Lawrence Rocks was found washed ashore dead on the southeast coast of Mauritius.


These birds are plunge divers and spectacular fishers, plunging from heights of up to 20 m (65 ft) into the ocean at high speed. They may dive from as low as 1–2 m (3–7 ft) above the surface at an angle to forage in water less than 3 m (10 ft) deep or in rough weather. They mainly eat forage fish which school near the surface, as well as cephalopods. Some local differences have been recorded: Australasian gannets at Farewell Spit mainly forage on coastal fish in water depths of less than 50 metres (160 ft), while those at Cape Kidnappers hunt more oceanic fish at water depths exceeding that. Birds also follow fishing vessels and trawlers to pick up discarded fish. Its bulk prevents it from hovering for a sustained period, but it can pause to examine the sea surface for fish.
The pilchard (Sardinops sagax) is a preferred prey item as it is an energy-rich source of food; after pilchard mass mortality events, Australasian gannets were able to adjust by switching to anchovy (Engraulis australis) at Farewell Spit in 1996 and barracouta (Thyrsites atun) in Port Phillip Bay in 1998. They also consumed correspondingly larger numbers of anchovies to maintain their caloric intake as this species has fewer calories than the pilchard. The increased expenditure for poorer return could feasibly impact on breeding success. In 1995, patrollers recovered 648 dead gannets along beaches in Auckland West and Northland West. The cause was unknown, but the 1995 pilchard mortality event and unusually strong westerly and southwesterly winds in July and August 1995 were implicated.
Other fish species reported eaten include kahawai (Arripis trutta), yellow-eye mullet (Aldrichetta forsteri), western Australian salmon (Arripis truttaceus), cape bonnetmouth (Emmelichthys nitidus), greenback horse mackerel (Trachurus declivis), yellowtail horse mackerel (Trachurus novaezelandiae), striped trumpeter (Latris lineata), New Zealand blueback sprat (Sprattus antipodum) and flyingfish of the genera Cheilopogon and Hirundichthys. Squid of the genus Nototodarus are among cephalopods eaten.


The southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus) has been recorded preying on an adult Australasian gannet by holding it underwater and drowning it. Eggs and chicks can fall victim to the kelp gull (Larus dominicanus) and Pacific gull (Larus pacificus), particularly if parent birds have been disturbed.
External parasites include the feather mite species Morinyssus simplex—collected from a museum skin of Australasian gannet—the bird louse species Pectinopygus bassani, and the tick species Ixodes eudyptidis, the widespread Ixodes uriae and Carios capensis.


The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Australasian gannet as a species of least concern, as the population is large and appears to be growing. There are possible impacts from commercial fishing, though this is probably low compared with other seabirds. Survival rates each breeding season can vary dramatically, most likely due to food availability and weather. More frequent El Niño–Southern Oscillation events lead to warmer water in Bass Strait, which gives rise to more fish and hence accounting for the increase in Australian waters.
Gannets established a mainland colony on Young Nick's Head near Gisborne, after decoys of nesting birds and pre-recorded calls were broadcast to passing gannets in September 2008. Successful breeding was recorded at the site from the 2010–11 breeding season onwards. A similar effort to establish a colony on Mana Island led to the arrival of a single gannet, dubbed Nigel "no mates", who lived alone among the 80 decoys for several years until he was found dead in February 2018; in summer 2018, three more gannets arrived at the site. Gannets have been enticed to established breeding colonies by decoys at reserves on Motuora Island.


The African pied wagtail, or African wagtail, (Motacilla aguimp) is a species of bird in the family Motacillidae.


The African pied wagtail is found in sub-Saharan Africa from the Eastern Cape north to extreme southern Egypt and from Guinea to western Eritrea and Somalia. It is a vagrant to Burkina Faso, Gambia, Mauritania and the Western Cape.


The African pied wagtail inhabits subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, rivers, and, sometimes, freshwater marshes. In some areas it is commensal with humans in towns and villages.


In Malawi African pied wagtails start breeding before the rains and continue to breed into the rainy season, they breed during six months of the year peaking in March and October. Both the males and females participate in nest building but only the female incubates but both sexes feed the young. The mean clutch in Malawi was found to be 3.9 eggs.
The African pied wagtail is monogamous, the cup-shaped nest is lined with grass and feathers and is usually situated near water in a convenient tangle of sticks. In settlements the nest may be located on buildings. The nests of the African pied wagtail are parasitised by the red-chested cuckoo Cuculus solitarius and the diderick cuckoo Chrysococcyx caprius. While chicks have been recorded as prey of Burchell's coucal Centropus burchellii.
The African pied wagtail is mainly insectivorous but also feeds on other invertebrates, grass seeds, tadpoles, small fish and scraps of human food.


The scientific binomial for the African pied wagtail is Motacilla aguimp; Motacilla, the name of the genus containing all but the forest wagtail of Asia, is from the Latin for a “little mover” while the specific name aguimp from the French for “with a wimple” which refers to the black hood of the African pied wagtail.


Among the wagtails the African pied wagtail is most similar in appearance to the recently discovered Mekong wagtail, and genetic evidence suggests that the two are each other's closest relatives and are each just as related to other black and white wagtails such as the white wagtail M. alba complex or the white-browed wagtail M. maderaspatensis.
There are currently two recognised subspecies of the African pied wagtail.
M. a. aguimp – the Northern Cape and Free State provinces in western South Africa, and along the Gariep River from southernmost Lesotho to southernmost Namibia
M. a. vidua – the remainder of its range


The white wagtail (Motacilla alba) is a small passerine bird in the family Motacillidae, which also includes pipits and longclaws. The species breeds in much of Europe and the Asian Palearctic and parts of North Africa. It has a toehold in Alaska as a scarce breeder. It is resident in the mildest parts of its range, but otherwise migrates to Africa. In Ireland and Great Britain, the darker subspecies, the pied wagtail or water wagtail (M. a. yarrellii) predominates; this is also called in Ireland willie wagtail, not to be confused with the Australian species Rhipidura leucophrys which bears the same common name. In total, there are between 9 and 11 subspecies of M. alba.
The white wagtail is an insectivorous bird of open country, often near habitation and water. It prefers bare areas for feeding, where it can see and pursue its prey. In urban areas it has adapted to foraging on paved areas such as car parks. It nests in crevices in stone walls and similar natural and man-made structures.
It is the national bird of Latvia and has featured on the stamps of several countries. Though it is 'of least concern', there are several threats against it, like being kept as pets and being used as food.


The white wagtail was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, and it still bears its original name Motacilla alba. The Latin genus name originally meant "little mover", but certain medieval writers thought it meant "wag-tail", giving rise to a new Latin word cilla for "tail". The specific epithet alba is Latin for "white".
Within the wagtail genus Motacilla, the white wagtail's closest genetic relatives appear to be other black-and-white wagtails such as the Japanese wagtail, Motacilla grandis, and the white-browed wagtail, Motacilla madaraspatensis (and possibly the Mekong wagtail, Motacilla samveasnae, the phylogenetic position of which is mysterious), with which it appears to form a superspecies. However, mtDNA cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data suggests that the white wagtail is itself polyphyletic or paraphyletic (i.e. the species is not itself a single coherent grouping). Other phylogenetic studies using mtDNA still suggest that there is considerable gene flow within the races and the resulting closeness makes Motacilla alba a single species. A study has suggested the existence of only two groups: the alboides group, with M. a. alboides, M. a. leucopsis and M. a. personata; and the alba group, with M. a. alba, M. a. yarrellii, M. a. baicalensis, M. a. ocularis, M. a. lugens, and M. a. subpersonata.


The white wagtail is a slender bird, 16.5 to 19 cm (6.5 to 7.5 in) in length (East Asian subspecies are longer, measuring up to 21 cm (8.3 in)), with the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. Its average weight is 25 g (0.88 oz) and the maximum lifespan in the wild is about 12 years.
There are a number of other subspecies, some of which may have arisen because of partial geographical isolation, such as the resident British and Irish form, the pied wagtail M. a. yarrellii, which now also breeds in adjacent areas of the neighbouring European mainland. The pied wagtail, named for naturalist William Yarrell, exchanges the grey colour of the nominate form with black (or very dark grey in females), but is otherwise identical in its behaviour. Other subspecies, the validity of some of which is questionable, differ in the colour of the wings, back, and head, or other features. Some races show sexual dimorphism during the breeding season. As many as six subspecies may be present in the wintering ground in India or Southeast Asia and here they can be difficult to distinguish. Phylogenetic studies using mtDNA suggest that some morphological features have evolved more than once, including the back and chin colour. Breeding M. a. yarrellii look much like the nominate race except for the black back, and M. a. alboides of the Himalayas differs from the Central Asian M. a. personata only by its black back. M. a. personata has been recorded breeding in the Siddar Valley of Kashmir of the Western Himalayas. It has also been noted that both back and chin change colour during the pre-basic moult; all black-throated subspecies develop white chins and throats in winter and some black-backed birds are grey-backed in winter.
The call of the white wagtail is a sharp chisick, slightly softer than the version given by the pied wagtail. The song is more regular in white than pied, but with little territorial significance, since the male uses a series of contact calls to attract the female.


Nine or eleven subspecies are currently recognised. This is because the black backed wagtail may be a separate species and M. a. dukhunensis may be part of M. a. alba. Information on the plumage differences and distribution of the subspecies of the white wagtail is shown below.
The British subspecies Motacilla alba yarellii was named after William Yarrell (1784-1856), the writer of the History of British Birds (first ed. 1843).


This species breeds throughout Eurasia up to latitudes 75°N, only being absent in the Arctic from areas where the July isotherm is less than 4 °C. It also breeds in the mountains of Morocco and western Alaska. It occupies a wide range of habitats, but is absent from deserts. White wagtails are residents in the milder parts of its range such as western Europe and the Mediterranean, but migratory in much of the rest of its range. Northern European breeders winter around the Mediterranean and in tropical and subtropical Africa, and Asiatic birds move to the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia. Birds from the North American population also winter in tropical Asia.


White wagtails are monogamous and defend breeding territories. The breeding season for most is from April to August, with the season starting later further north. Both sexes are responsible for building the nest, with the male responsible for initiating the nest building and the female for finishing the process. For second broods in the subspecies personata the female alone builds the nest, which is a rough cup assembled from twigs, grass, leaves and other plant matter, as the male is still provisioning the young. It is lined with soft materials, including animal hair. The nest is set into a crevice or hole—traditionally in a bank next to a river or ditch—but the species has also adapted to nesting in walls, bridges and buildings. One nest was found in the skull of a walrus. White wagtails will nest in association with other animals: particularly, where available, the dams of beavers and also inside the nests of golden eagles. Around three to eight eggs are laid, with the usual number being four to six. The eggs are cream-coloured, often with a faint bluish-green or turquoise tint, and heavily spotted with reddish brown; they measure, on average, 21 mm × 15 mm (0.83 in × 0.59 in). Both parents incubate the eggs, although the female generally does so for longer and incubates at night. The eggs begin to hatch after 12 days (sometimes as late as 16 days). Both parents feed the chicks until they fledge after between 12 and 15 days, and the chicks are fed for another week after fledging.
Though it is known to be a host species for the common cuckoo, the white wagtail typically deserts its nest if it has been parasitised. Moksnes et al. theorised that this occurs because the wagtail is too small to push the intruding egg out of the nest, and too short-billed to destroy the egg by puncturing it.


This species has a large range, with an estimated extent of more than 10 million square kilometres (3.9 million square miles). The population size is between 130 and 230 million.
Population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated to be of least concern. The population in Europe appears to be stable. The species has adapted well to human changes to the environment and has exploited human changes such as man-made structures that are used for nesting sites and increased open areas that are used for foraging. In a number of cities, notably Dublin, large flocks gather in winter to roost. They are therefore rated as of least concern. However, they are caught for sport and often then placed into collections. They are also kept as pets and eaten as food. Climate change may be affecting the time of their migration.


They have featured on stamps from Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Finland, Georgia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Jersey, Kuwait, Latvia, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. The white wagtail is the national bird of Latvia, and has been often mentioned in Latvian folk songs.


The Cape wagtail (Motacilla capensis), also known as Wells's wagtail, is a small insectivorous bird which is widespread in southern Africa. It frequents water's edge, lawns and gardens. It is a mostly resident, territorial species, but has been known to undertake limited altitudinal migration or form flocks outside of the breeding season. Like other wagtails they are passerine birds of the family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws.


In 1760, French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Cape wagtail in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope. He used the French name La bergeronette du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Motacilla Capitis Bonae Spei. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the Cape wagtail. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Motacilla capensis and cited Brisson's work. The genus Motacilla had been introduced in 1758 by the Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The specific name capensis denotes the Cape of Good Hope.
Three subspecies, occurring in three distinct regions are currently recognised:
Motacilla capensis subsp. simplicissima Neumann, 1929 – Angola to southeastern DRC, Zambia, the Caprivi Strip, northern Botswana and western Zimbabwe;
Motacilla capensis subsp. capensis Linnaeus, 1766 – Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and central Mozambique;
Motacilla capensis subsp. wellsi Ogilvie-Grant, 1911 – Highlands of the eastern DRC to Uganda and Kenya.


The Cape wagtail has a dull plumage and a relatively short tail, with olive grey breast and face, with a tan supercilium and dark lores. The underparts are creamy white and may show a faint pinkish wash on the lower breast and belly. The breast band is dusky and the sides of the breast and the flanks are olive-grey. The brownish black wings have pale edges to the feathers and the tail is blackish with the two outer tail feathers being white. The juveniles are similar to the adults but browner above and yellower below. There is no colour or plumage distinction between males and females. The Wagtail also has an iconic black triangle on its chest.


Cape wagtails are found in eastern and southern Africa from Uganda, the eastern DRCongo and Kenya, through Zambia and Angola to southern Africa, south to the Western Cape and the Cape of Good Hope.
Cape wagtails can be found in almost any habitat that has open ground adjacent to water, and also along the rocky coastline, in farms, villages, cultivated land, parks, gardens and urban centres. In east Africa it is generally found above 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in altitude.


The western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) is a small passerine in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws.
This species breeds in much of temperate Europe and Asia. It is resident in the milder parts of its range, such as western Europe, but northern and eastern populations migrate to Africa and south Asia.
It is a slender 15–16 cm long bird, with the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. It is the shortest tailed of the European wagtails. The breeding adult male is basically olive above and yellow below. In other plumages, the yellow may be diluted by white. The heads of breeding males come in a variety of colours and patterns depending on subspecies.
The call is a high-pitched jeet.
This insectivorous bird inhabits open country near water, such as wet meadows. It nests in tussocks, laying 4–8 speckled eggs.


Motacilla is the Latin name for the wagtail; although actually a diminutive of motare, " to move about", from medieval times it led to the misunderstanding of cilla as "tail". The specific flava is Latin for golden-yellow.
This species' systematics and phylogeny is extremely confusing. Dozens of subspecies have been described at one time or another, and some 15-20 are currently considered valid depending on which author reviews them. In addition, the citrine wagtail (M. citreola) forms a cryptic species complex with this bird; both taxa as conventionally delimited are paraphyletic in respect to each other. The populations of the Beringian region are sometimes separated as eastern yellow wagtail (M. tschutschensis).


Colouration refers to males except when noted.
M. f. flava Linnaeus, 1758 – blue-headed wagtail
Blue-grey head with white supercilium and malar stripe in males, much washed with buffish green in females.
Breeding: southern Scandinavia to France and central European mountain ranges, east to Urals. Winter: sub-Saharan Africa.
M. f. flavissima Blyth, 1834 – yellow-crowned wagtail
Yellow-green head with a brighter yellow supercilium. Females markedly paler below than males.
Breeding: Britain and English Channel coast. Winter: Africa.
M. f. thunbergi Billberg, 1828 – dark-headed wagtail or grey-headed wagtail
Head dark grey, reaching down to the cheeks, and without white in males; lighter and washed greenish, with vestigial greenish supercilium in females.
Breeding: central and northern Scandinavia east to north-west Siberia. Winter: eastern Africa, Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia.
M. f. iberiae Hartert, 1921 – Iberian yellow wagtail
Like flava, but throat white and grey darker, almost black behind eyes.
Breeding: south-eastern France, Iberia, Maghreb from Tunisia to Banc d'Arguin. Winter: The Gambia to the Central African Republic.
M. f. cinereocapilla Savi, 1831 – ashy-headed wagtail
Like iberiae but supercilium absent or vestigial.
Breeding: Sicily, Sardinia, Italy, Slovenia. Winter: coastal Tunisia and Algeria, Mali to Lake Chad.
M. f. pygmaea (A. E. Brehm, 1854) – Egyptian yellow wagtail
Similar to cinereocapilla, smaller, less bright.
Nile delta and lower Nile, resident all year.
M. f. feldegg Michahelles, 1830 – black-headed wagtail
Like thunbergi but black cap in males, females like a dull thunbergi male above, very washed-out dirty yellowish below, throat white.
Breeding: Balkans east to the Caspian Sea, south to Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan; also Levant. Winter: central Africa from Nigeria to Uganda and south Sudan.
M. f. lutea (S. G. Gmelin, 1774) – yellow-headed wagtail
Head yellow with green neck in males, females like a somewhat more vivid flava female.
Breeding: Lower Volga to Irtysh River and Lake Zaysan. Winter: Africa and Indian subcontinent.
M. f. beema (Sykes, 1832) – Sykes' wagtail
Like flava but head lighter grey, ears washed white; sexes often similar.
Breeding: North of lutea, east to Ladakh area. Winter: Indian subcontinent, also east Africa and adjacent Arabia.
M. f. melanogrisea (Homeyer, 1878) – Turkestan black-headed wagtail
Similar to feldegg, but white malar stripe and sometimes green neck.
Breeding: Volga Delta east around Caspian Sea to northern Afghanistan. Winter: Pakistan and north-west India to western Nepal, possibly also north-eastern Africa.
M. f. plexa (Thayer & Bangs, 1914) – north Siberian yellow wagtail
Males like thunbergi but ears darker, top of head lighter, vestigial supercilium. Females like dull males.
Breeding: Siberia between Khatanga and Kolyma Rivers. Winter: India, south-east Asia.
M. f. leucocephala (Przevalski, 1887) – white-headed yellow wagtail
Male like flava, but grey of head very pale, almost white. Female like flava females, but head somewhat darker.
Breeding: North-west Mongolia and adjacent PRC and Russia. Winter: probably India.
The nominate blue-headed wagtail and yellow wagtail form a narrow hybrid zone in northern France. Birds from this zone vary in appearance, but one type, which resembles nominate blue-headed wagtail (except that the blue tones to the head are paler and more mauve and the white of the head is more extensive, particularly on the throat, ear-coverts, and supercilium) is colloquially referred to as Channel wagtail.


The eastern yellow wagtail (Motacilla tschutschensis) is a small passerine in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. It was often classified as a subspecies of the Western yellow wagtail.
This species breeds in the East Palearctic and has a foothold in North America in Alaska. Populations migrate to south Asia and Australia.
Vagrant individuals occur around the winter quarters at migration time. For example, on Palau in Micronesia migrant flocks of this species – apparently of the Bering Sea yellow wagtail, and including many adult males – are regularly seen, while further north on the Marianas, only the occasional stray individual – usually females or immatures as it seems – is encountered.
It is a slender 15–16 cm long bird, with the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. The breeding adult male is basically olive above and yellow below. In other plumages, the yellow may be diluted by white. The heads of breeding males come in a variety of colours and patterns depending on subspecies.
The call is a characteristic high-pitched jeet.
This insectivorous bird inhabits open country near water, such as wet meadows. It nests in tussocks, laying 4–8 speckled eggs.
The Acanthocephalan parasite Apororhynchus paulonucleatus was discovered in the colon and cloaca of the Eastern yellow wagtail.


BirdLife International (2019). "Motacilla tschutschensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T103822471A154735918. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T103822471A154735918.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
Wiles et al. (2000), VanderWerf et al. (2006)
Wiles et al. (2000)
Khokhlova, I. G.; Cimbaluk, A. K. (1971). "Acanthocephala of the genus Apororhynchus Shipley, 1899 and a description of A. paulonucleatus n.sp". KOLOS: 426–431.
Voelker (2002)


Muehlenbeckia axillaris (creeping wire vine, sprawling wirevine, matted lignum) is a low evergreen shrub, forming wiry mats up to about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in diameter, native to New Zealand, and the Australian states of Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria. It has thin, red-brown stems, with glossy squarish to roundish leaves that are less than 1 cm (0.39 in) in diameter and 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) thick. Flowers are inconspicuous, yellowish-white, 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) in diameter, and borne in groups of up to three in the axils. The fruit is black, shiny, and up to 3.5 mm (0.14 in) long, produced in late summer to fall.
The plant is hardy, drought-tolerant, and quick-growing, thriving in a range of light conditions. It can be cultivated as a ground cover and grows well in rocky ground, as well as standard potting soil. Although it grows fastest in warm seasons, it tolerates freezing weather.


The species was first described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1847, who used the name "Polygonum (Muhlenbeckia) axillaris". Both Stephan Endlicher (in 1848) and Wilhelm Gerhard Walpers (in 1849) later referred to it as just Muehlenbeckia axillaris.


Muhlenbergia rigens, commonly known as deergrass, is a warm season perennial bunchgrass. It is found in sandy or well-drained soils below 7,000 feet (2,100 m) in elevation in the Southwestern United States and parts of Mexico.


Deergrass is characterized by dense, tufted basal foliage consisting of narrow pointed leaves that reach lengths of about 3 feet (0.91 m). The foliage ranges in color from light silver-green to purple. The spikelike stems are less than half an inch wide and 3–4 feet (0.91–1.22 m) in length. During bloom, the numerous flowered panicles often reach heights of five feet. The spikelets consist of a single awnless floret with a 3-nerved lemma.


The native range of the grass extends north into Shasta County, California, and south into New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico. There it inhabits a wide range of ecotypes including grassland, riparian, chaparral, mixed conifer, and oak woodland communities. Deergrass can grow in areas with periodic flooding, but cannot tolerate standing water and poorly drained soils. It prefers full sun but is shade-tolerant.


The young shoots are browsed by a variety of animals, but with age the plant becomes unpalatable. As such, is useful in an exposed garden setting for its deer resistance. It has also been used for erosion prevention and streambank stabilization because of extensive root systems. Restoration efforts currently use deergrass to displace exotic invasive annuals that dominate some grassland ecosystems. Deergrass can also be used to remediate overtilled, eroded agricultural land where it anchors and returns lost organic matter to the soil. Phytoremediative studies have been conducted to test the ability of deergrass to remove chemicals from agricultural runoff. Its dense stands and extensive roots act as a biofilter effective for herbicide, pesticide, and particulate breakdown.
Among the Zuni people, the grass is attached to the sticks of plume offerings to anthropic gods.


Muhlenbergia rigens can be established in late spring and early summer by broadcast seeding with irrigation. For best results, 50 seeds per square foot are planted then lightly incorporated just below the soil surface with a culti-packer. Establishment is most successful when steps are taken to mitigate weed growth. Burning, discing, and reduced fertilization schemes to reduce the weed seed bank are recommended.
Container planting is a highly effective way of establishing deergrass. The seed can be sown in flats in May and transplanted in the fall of the same year. In California, except in areas of heavy frost, Muhlenbegia rigens can be successfully planted in winter and spring to take advantage of seasonal rainfall. Stand preparation should be the same as when broadcast-seeded. During transplant, plants should be spaced with a minimum of two feet between them. After establishment little management is required. Irrigation is unnecessary in normal rainfall years and fertilization is not recommended as it may increase weed competition. Burning or mowing can be used every few years to reduce accumulated dead matter.
Because Muhlenbergia rigens uses C₄ carbon fixation, it gains an advantage in conditions of drought and high temperature. This characteristic, along with its attractiveness, has gained the plant recent attention as an ornamental in xeriscape gardens. Studies have also demonstrated a high tolerance to salt suggesting possible irrigation using low quality reclaimed waste-water sources at very low cost.


Muhlenbergia rigens is a cover for mule deer during fawning periods. Studies have equated reduced deer populations with overgrazed deergrass stands in and near cattle pasture. Young shoots and leaves are grazed by deer, horses, and cattle. It is an overwintering host for many species of Lepidoptera and ladybug. Deergrass seed provides food for many different bird species.


Deergrass was important to many Native American tribes who used its long seedstalks as the principal material in coiled baskets. Deergrass underwent an early form of cultivation by many California tribes who regularly burned areas to maintain stands of deergrass, and induce the production of long straight stalks for use in basketry. Each basket required over 3000 stalks, driving the need for cultivation It is believed that much of its current distribution is due to propagation by Native Americans.


Muilla maritima is a species of flowering plant known by the common names sea muilla and common muilla. It is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in many types of habitats from the coast to the Mojave Desert and Sierra Nevada foothills and other inland mountains, in grassland, woodland, desert, and forest floras. It is a perennial plant growing from a corm and producing an erect flowering stem up to half a meter tall. The onion-like leaves at the base of the stem may be 60 centimeters long. The flowering stem bears an umbel-shaped array of many flowers on pedicels up to 5 centimeters long. Each flower has six tepals which are green-tinged white in color with brownish midribs and no more than 6 millimeters in length. At the center of the flower are six erect stamens with blue, green, or purplish anthers.


Muntingia is a genus of plants in the family Muntingiaceae, comprising only one species, Muntingia calabura, and was named in honour of Abraham Munting. It is native to the neotropics, from Mexico south to Bolivia, with edible fruit, and has been widely introduced in other tropical areas.


Muntingia calabura is a shrub or tree up to 12 m tall with spreading branches. The leaves are alternate, distichous, oblong or lanceolate, 4–15 cm long and 1–6 cm wide, with toothed margin and covered in short hairs. The flowers are small (up to 3 cm wide), solitary or in inflorescences of two or three flowers, with five lanceolate sepals, hairy, five obovate white petals, many stamens with yellow anthers, and a smooth ovoid ovary. Fruit, an edible berry, is red at maturity, about 1.5 cm wide.