Azmi Mohamed was at the Singapore Botanical Gardens on the morning of the 26th February 2006 when he came across the Little Heron (Butorides striatus) doing an unusual thing. “It was picking up pieces of bread and dropping the bread into the water. It appeared to be trying to lure fish within range for it to prey on. Most of the time the bread would be eaten by fish too large for it to prey on. Whenever the bread was eaten by a large fish, the bird would pick up another piece of bread and drop it into the water. I didn’t observe it catching any small fish successfully.”

Intrigued by the behaviour of this Little Heron, Azmi wanted to know whether anyone else observed this behaviour?

Jeremy Lee reported that he was there the last weekend and saw the same heron standing on a water lily leaf doing the same thing. But it did not manage to catch any small fish.

Robert Teo saw the Little Heron in the company of a White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) and some Lesser Whistling-ducks (Dendrocygna javanica) when visitors came to feed the ducks. But he did not see the bird using bread as bait to fish. Robert wonders whether this behaviour is natural or learned from watching the duck feed.

Hung Bun Tang wrote: ”It is well known that the crows are very clever birds. Little Herons, I have seen in a documentary, may just be as clever. They can bait fish. They observed people feeding ducks in a pond and noticed that fish were also attracted to the bread. So they picked up some tiny bits of bread from the ground and dropped them into water to lure the fish. It worked and they got an easy meal! Sometimes they used tiny insects as baits too.”

According to our bird specialist, R. Subaraj, the Little Heron is indeed using bread as bait to fish. This has been observed a few times before at the Symphony Lake, Singapore Botanic Gardens and several times at the Waterbird Lake, Jurong Bird Park. “This little fellow is certainly not “bird-brained” and I believe the key to success for this little chap is learning where to fish, with bait. At the open areas of the Symphony Lake, the larger fish would take all the bread but in the past, these herons have had more success catching smaller fish by placing it in shallower edges of the pond, usually in shady spots.”

Subaraj further added: “David Attenborough’s film crew was keen to film this a few years ago and contacted me but unfortunately the Bird Park’s lake was undergoing renovation then and it was not possible.”

Sharon Chan confirms Subaraj’s statement of the happenings at the Jurong Bird Park. She has this to say: “The pelicans and swans are fed on floating platforms. When they feed, some of the food falls into the water. This in turn attracts the attention of the fish. So you tend to see a lot of fish swimming around the floating platforms. When the swans move away, the Little Heron will stand by the edge of the platform staring intently into the water, looking for their food - the fish.

“There is usually a solitary bird at one platform, waiting for its prey. This is not restricted to the herons. The Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis), and Great White Pelican (P. onocrotalus) have taken this one step further. They actually scoop up some food from the tray and drop it into the water to draw the fishes to them. Then they will collectively dip their bills into the water and the fishing begins…”

In the next episode we will look at what Con Foley has to say after he went Googling - looking for information on this intelligent bird.

Contributed by Azmi Mohamed, Jeremy Lee, Robert Teo, Hung Bun Tang, R. Subaraj and Sharon Chan. Images by YC (top) and Azmi (bottom two).

Ilsa Sharp from Perth, Western Australia, wrote on 21st February 2006: “I would like to ask whether anybody has encountered any ‘inter-racial marriages’ between different species of birds in Singapore, articularly between newcomer aliens and indigenous residents - and if so, are the offspring automatically infertile?

“This thought came to me because I was birding with Birds Australia’s Western Australian chapter last weekend, on a bush track following the Swan River in Perth, and our experienced leader introduced us to a cute partnership between a Galah (a pretty pink and grey parrot, Cacatua roseicapilla) and a Corella (white cockatoo-like parrot) of the species (Long-billed – Cacatua tenuirostris) that has invaded Western Australia from Australia’s eastern states. He said the birds had been together for 30 years already and had produced young, which were infertile.

“We stood and watched the unlikely pair feeding together on the ground for a while and they did indeed seem devoted to each other! Our leader was not sure which was the male, which the female, though he had seen the larger bird, the Corella, on the nest once.

Just intrigued to know what kind of mingling has been attempted in Singapore, if any.”

Our bird specialist, R. Subaraj replied: “Your Cockatoo mixed species pairing is most interesting. Particularly since the Galah is not an uncommon bird there and he/she should not have been short of partners.

“The current wave of thought in South-West Australia is that all birds of the three species of corella around Perth (Little, Long-billed and Western) are feral (originate from escapees). The natural populations of the first two species don’t come anywhere close to western Australia while the Western may have been native around Perth in the past but went extinct, so the current birds are considered feral. The native population is supposed to be further north of Perth. At least this is what I have read.

“If this is true, then the Long-billed Corella in the mixed pair may not have had a mate of the same species 30 years ago and paired off with the Galah.

“All reports that I have heard of with regards to mixed species pairing have the offspring being infertile. If they are fertile, then the two species involved must be subspecies rather than species.

“In Singapore, there have been records of Common/Javan Myna offspring with the bird being grey with a yellow eye-patch (Kang Nee pers. comm.). However, I cannot recall other strange pairings involving native species. At present, a lone female Rhinoceros Hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), who has been at Bukit Timah for more than a year, has apparently found a partner in the form of a female Great Hornbill (B. bicornis)… and they have been seen prospecting potential nest holes around Hindhede Quarry!”

Contributed by Ilsa Sharp and R. Subaraj. Top image of Tanimbar Corella and bottom of Rhinoceros and Great Hornbills by YC

Ilsa wrote on 25th April 2006: “Remember that posting I made earlier regarding ‘mixed marriages’ among birds - my original observation being the longterm relationship between a Galah and a Corella cockatoo in Western Australia? Well, sorry for the long lapse in time, but I have now got a photo of the happy couple, attached! For those who don’t know, the Galah is the pink and grey one, pretty but there are suspicions that the big white Corella may actually be the female! Thanks to WA birder Ted Cawley for the photo. Ilsa, Perth, Western Australia

“On December 12th, 2005, as I was leading my American clients on a birding tour at Serangoon (Sewage Works), we stopped to observe an adult Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis). Suddenly, another adult swam into view with two juveniles in tow, much to my excitement. There has been only three adult grebes left here and so it was quite unexpected to find that they had bred.

“The Little Grebe first arrived in 1992, at a little pond adjacent to the old Ponggol pig farms. By 1994, there were a few feeding and breeding across the Serangoon River, at a large pond, at the Serangoon Sewage Works. Colonisation from nearby Malaysia was a success and the grebe population continued to grow with a high count of 27 birds in 1996.

“Soon after, the large pond was filled in and although a shallow pool emerged from the original site, the only good pond that remained was the smaller pond. This pond continues to exist and holds the last remnants of the Little Grebe population. This had dwindled to just three birds in the last two years.

“The grebe makes a floating nest of water plants in the middle of the pond and it has bred a few times before, especially when the larger pond was around. The small remaining population still built nests but in many cases, these were not utilised. That is until this year. A nest was built in the middle of the pond and an adult sat on it. Even this behaviour did not mean nesting.

“The only record of a Little Grebe away from the Serangoon/Ponggol area was of one bird at the Tuas grassland. Why is the species not found at Sungei Buloh and other wetlands areas? One likely reason is the presence of the large predatory Common Snakehead or Aruan.

“So, is the Little Grebe to have a very short stint as a Permanent Resident?

Regards, R. Subaraj.”

Contributed by our bird specialist R. Subaraj. Image of nesting Little Grebes taken with permission from Ong Kiem Sian’s video Precious Moments of Nesting Birds I.

PS 1: On 27th March 2006 Ong Kiem Sian wrote in: “I saw once a family of grebes with 2 chicks at Tampines pond. I have not been there for many years. Maybe the pond does not exist anymore.”

PS 2: Alvin Wong from Beijing wrote on 11th April 2006: “Howdy folks, I’m currently in Beijing, China (where blogspot is blocked and I cannot post my comment on besgroup). I used to observe Little Grebes swimming in the water-logged empty land across my block in Punggol. now it’s a cluster of HDB flats under construction. Bird-watching from my living room…”

The Hornbill Project Singapore is the brainchild of French naturalist, Marc Cremades of the Winged Migration fame. The ides came two years ago when he visited Pulau Ubin with long-time local birder, Prof Ng Soon Chye.

Much is known about these large and wonderful birds but relatively little is known about the breeding behaviour. We know that the female is confined inside a tree cavity during egg incubation and the development of the nestlings. During this 6-7 weeks, the male bird regularly and faithfully brings food to feed his mate and later the nestlings as well. Only when the nestlings are ready to fledge will the seal be broken. However, next to nothing is known what happens inside the sealed nest.

The project is using infrared video cameras to monitor activities inside and outside the nests. Male birds will be tagged with a miniaturised GPS to track their movements. A temperature gauge placed inside the nest will study the temperature fluctuations. A gas sampling system has also been installed in the nest cavity.

So far, five females have already been installed inside their nest cavities and at least one has laid a clutch of eggs. The project has found that as soon as the female is installed inside the nest, she sheds her rectrix and remex feathers.

Local partners of the project include National Parks Board, Jurong Bird Park, National University of Singapore, National Technological University and the BESGroup of the Nature Society (Singapore). International partners include ornithologists and scientists from France and Thailand.

As the Bird Ecology Study Group is directly involved in this hornbill project, we are monitoring sightings of these birds on mainland Singapore. Information on dates; number of birds; whether male, female or juvenile; locations and time of sightings can be sent to me at wee37@starhub.net.sg. This information would come in useful when we plot the flight range of these hornbills.

We are grateful to the many who have sent in sightings on the Oriental Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris convexus)as well as the Great (Buceros bicornis) and Rhinoceros (B. rhinoceros) Hornbills.

Read the more detailed account of the project in the latest issue of Asian Geographic (No. 35 Issue 2/2006).

Image comes from the title page of the hornbill article in Asian Geographic.

We regularly see the Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros malayanus) in mainland Singapore and in Pulau Ubin. But Stephen Lau had a treat when a Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis) came for a visit at his condomonium around the Bukit Timah area.

One morning in May 2005, just as Stephen was about to leave his apartment for an appointment, he heard the heavy falpping of wings and deep harsh sounds coming from his balcony. Curious, he went to investigate. He had a treat of his life when he saw perching comfortably on the railing, a very large black and white bird with a yellow neck and black-rimmed red eyes. It had a large and prominent yellowish bill and casque. Without doubt it was a hornbill. In fact it is no ordinary hornbill. It was a female Great Hornbill, definitely an escapee as a metal tag can clearly be seen round its right leg.

It sat there looking at Stephen and started chewing and spitting seeds of some fruits kept hidden in its big beak. Intrigued, he offered the bird a slice of papaya on a plate. The bird scrambled off to his neighbour’s unit but returned later to finish off the piece of papaya.

Input and image by Stephen Lau.