“Was on my way out of this forest reserve, at the fringe, when spotted this Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia horizoptera) far away, high in a tree. It had nesting material in its beak – looked like soft cotton material possibly from a kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra).

“I scanned the tree but could not find a nest – possibly quite high up in the canopy, 8-10 meters up.

“I waited around and was rewarded with the adult collecting more material much nearer to me (above left). It was searching the leaves of trees for pupae.

“It manipulated the material for quite some time (2-3 minutes), possibly to ensure it was empty. Occasionally stopping to examine it, rest as well as sing out to the mate (above right). It pulled and stretched the material, until satisfied, then flew off to the nest (below).

“Although nests have been assumed to be held together with cobwebs, it is possible that sticky silk material from cocoons of pupae could also be used.”

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Kledang-Sayong Forest Reserve
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
15th June 2010

Note: The material collected is a cocoon of a communal-living lepidopteran species. The nest of the Common Iora covered with insect silk is shown HERE; collecting of spider silk is discussed HERE.

“It was late in the evening, at around 5.00pm when the birds would come one at a time to their favorite bathing spot, a small shallow flowing stream in the middle of the jungle. The lighting was pretty bad, but my video-cam just manage to cope with the condition.

“The first to the bathing spot was the Cream-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus simplex), considered an uncommon bird, and nationally near threatened. The bulbul was at first very wary of my presence, hopping from branch to branch and maintaining a constant visual contact with me. Having satisfied that I was no threat, it plonked itself into the shallow flowing stream. With vigorous fluffing and shaking of feathers, it started to have a bath. The bird hopped out of the water, proceeded with drying its feathers, and than hopped back down into the pool and got itself wet again. And for a couple more times!

“After the Cream-vented Bulbul left the bathing spot, the Short-tailed Babbler (Malacocincla malaccensis) ventured in and having seen that the bulbul was not at all harmed by my presence, immediately went into the pool to have a bath. The babbler did the same thing as the bulbul, wetting itself and shaking off the water from its plumage - then preening, before going back into the water to wet itself again.

“Was its action of shaking off the water also allowed it to shake of some parasites living among its feathers?”

KC Tsang
Singapore
21st August 2010

In a post as far back as 22nd December 2008, it was mentioned that Gloria Seow had documented as many as seven different calls of the Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis). In the same post, this number was increased by one when YC made a 24-hour vigil in his garden. And there is also Wells’ (2997) report of more than ten different calls. However, to what extent these different calls reported separately are the same or different calls cannot be ascertained, mainly because there were no recordings made.

Now, Sun Chong Hong has come forward to share his 16 calls of the Black-naped Oriole, meticulously recorded with his digital camera in Singapore. He edited the recordings using a free sound editor “Audacity” which he downloaded from the internet. In this way he removed unwanted noises and calls of other birds from the sound clips. But some of these calls have not been edited as they ended too abruptly.

There is a 17th call which he heard only once recently that has a relative pitch of La-Ti-Re (the Re is at a lower pitch than the La-Ti). This he did not manage to record at that time, but will be made available if he managed to record it one of these days.

oriole-call1; oriole-call2; oriole-call3; oriole-call4; oriole-call5; oriole-call5a; oriole-call6; oriole-call7; oriole-call8; oriole-call9; oriole-call10; oriole-call11; oriole-call12; oriole-call13; oriole-call14; oriole-call15; oriole-call16.

Recording of these 16 calls is an excellent start. What we now need is for someone to establish the function for each call - whether it is to establish territory, to attract a mate, to sound an alarm, etc.

In May 2010, BESG made an appeal to birdwatchers to document bird calls and songs. We are happy that quite a few bird enthusiasts have since responded.

Sunda Pygmy Woodpeckers (Dendrocopus moluccensis) were seen by Steven Chong in October 2010 flying around the trees in front of his residential area at Bukit Batok, Singapore. At times there were three to five birds on the trunk of the Pometia pinnata, chipping away at the scaly bark, no doubt foraging for insects (below left, centre).

The woodpeckers were foraging on the trunk of the several trees that were around the area. However, in early August the birds were seen around the branches high up the trees (above right). This was probably because there were people around.

A number of birders have responded to our recent call to document vocalisation. This has been a much neglected aspect of local birdwatching and is much welcomed. We give below a collection of bird calls and songs contributed by Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS. These recordings were made at the Keledang Sayong Forest Reserve in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia, unless otherwise stated:

1. Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus), adult, “warbling” in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia - HERE.

2. An adult Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach bentet), presumably male (below left), made a loud scolding call repeatedly when approached HERE. The protective behaviour and the larger black frontal band (Wells, 2007) suggest it was a male. The other of the pair, the presumed female (below centre), remained quite and kept some distance away. When the presumed female took flight, she landed in some nearby trees and made a softer less prolonged call HERE. The calls of this shrike are documented differently in various guides - known to make a “warbling call” and loud defensive calls. The first call is the more frequent one encountered. Recorded at Bercham, Ipoh City, Perak on 21st August 2010.

3. Two common calls of the Lineated Barbet (Megalaima lineata hodgsoni) recorded from Amar’s garden in Ipoh City (above right). The calls can be heard on most days, the bird having proliferated in his region and are gradually moving southward in the peninsular. His wife calls it the “chicken barbet” as at times it likes to cock up the tail when calling, making it look comically like a chicken. This call sounds like “wu-cock” (a local delicious Chinese pastry), while this call is a more drawn out like a WuoouU”. Recorded on 27th August 2010.

4. The male White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus mallopercnus), despite being constantly trapped illegally to be caged as a song bird, has slowly multiplied around the forest area - HERE. Recorded on 6th April 2010.

5. The call of a male Asian Fairy Bluebird (Irena puella malayensis), described by Wells (2007) as “whi-ti” or “whit” is presumed to be a contact call - HERE. Recorded on 27th May 2010.

6. A male Lesser Green Leafbird (Chloropsis cyanopogon cyanopogon) - HERE. The bird was feeding on the fruits of Macaranga heynei, calling intermittently. It has been described by Wells (2007) as “loud, rich and varied warbling, interspersed with deep, melodious notes”. Recorded on 27th May 2010.

7. A female Blue-winged Leafbird (Chloropsis cochinchinensis moluccensis) - HERE. According to Wells (2007), calls are not adequately described in the Malay Peninsula. Recorded on 30th June 2010.

8. A Spectacled Bulbul (Pycnonotus erythropthalmos), a reasonably common bird - HERE. Recorded on 30th June 2010.

9. A Grey-breasted Spiderhunter (Arachnothera modesta modesta) feeding on fruits of Macarange bancana - HERE. This species spent a lot of time at the tree, feeding extensively. Thus there could have been more than one bird as it came and went. The background noise of a river has been intentionally left intact. The bird makes a 2 or 3 syllable chit-chit or chi-chi-chit. According to Wells (2007), “There has been no adequate description of voice from this region. Recorded on July 2010.

10. A fascinating call by two Large Niltavas (Niltava grandis decipiens) (above left), one responding to the other - HERE. The call, comprising three notes, has been modified by noise reduction and amplification (lots of rushing streams in background and a dog barking removed) but still holds true. Glenister (1971) says it the best:”‘It is the author of one of the most characteristic sounds of the mountain jungle – a plaintive, soft, yet far carrying, musical whistle of three ascending notes. These birds and their calls are one of the most distinctive features of the Cameron Highlands hill station.” Recorded on 15th August 2010.

11. A pair of Black-crested Bulbul (Pycnonotus melanicterus caecilii) (above right) flew over a ridge onto a branch just beside Amar at 1,600m ASL at Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands. The unprocessed call is HERE and with noise reduction and amplification HERE. Recorded on 15th August 2010.

12. A loud call of the Spectacled Spiderhunter (Arachnothera flavigaster), “ta-chak” (Wells, 2007) which is used often and appears to be territorial as well as used to show displeasure - HERE. It is often used singly or in a series of calls, and is also used to chase another bird from their food source. On this particular day (1.5 hours observation), it monopolised the fruiting tree, chasing away sunbirds and other spiderhunters. DM Batchelor in Smythies (1999) noted “It is exceptionally quarrelsome, attacking vigorously any bird, either its own or a different species, that is feeding near it.” In this particular recording, where the call was used repeatedly for a long period with odd fluttering of the wings and tail – very much like a juvenile asking for food (this bird was feeding independently). Recorder on 18th July 2010.

References:
1. Glenister, A.G., 1971. The birds of the Malay Peninsula and Penang. Oxford University Press, London. 291 pp.
2. Smythies, B. E., 1999. Birds of Borneo. Natural History Publications & The Sabah Society, Kota Kinabalu. (4th ed., revised). 853 pp.
3. Wells, D.R., 2007. The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London. 800 pp.