Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus), also known as Common Peafowl and Indian Peacock, are popular with parks and zoos worldwide. They are free ranging birds and are easily kept. The Singapore Zoological Garden’s peafowl frequently fly off to the nearby forest area along Mandai Lake Road to forage.
Lately, Meng and Melinda Chan came across a peahen that flew over to lay her eggs. The bird chose a large bird’s nest fern (Asplenium nidus) that grew on a raised tree stump to lay four eggs that were larger than chicken eggs. She was sitting on the fern incubating her eggs. The male was nowhere in sight.

According to the literature the female peafowl usually lays her eggs in a shallow scrape of ground and incubates them herself. The male seeks other females immediately after copulation.
Peahen generally attracts attention in Singapore and one laying eggs attracts more attention. Was it a wonder then that one egg was earlier destroyed by someone and another pinched by an irresponsible person?

On that morning in early July 2006 when Meng and Melinda were there, they found a broken egg on the ground below the incubating bird. Melinda wondered, “…could the egg have rolled down from the nest and broke? Was it possible that the bird rejected the egg since someone was earlier seen handling it?”The bird later abandoned her last egg as she was seen wandering about and not incubating in her nest.

Apparently this was the second observed nesting. The first happened one month earlier when two eggs were laid on another bird’s nest fern. Unfortunately the eggs rolled down from the fern within a day they were laid.

Our bird specialist R. Subaraj has this to say: “This species is on my Singapore checklist due to the free-ranging population on Sentosa fulfilling the three criteria for Introduced Species. On Sentosa, there are several records over the years of young chicks accompanying females.”

Thank you Meng and Melinda Chan for the account and the images. The top image of a peacock in the Singapore Zoo is by YC.

A Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier) built, for the second time, a nest that was lodged between the forking branches of a Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of India’ tree in my garden. It was about 2.5 m from the ground. The bird was seen earlier sitting on the nest on and off for more than a week but nothing came of it. Eventually the nest was abandoned. It was collected on 12th July 2006 and measured, dismantled and the various materials identified.The nest was built above an incomplete earlier nest. The upper nest was easily detached from the partially completed lower nest. The exterior dimension of the whole structure was 13 x 11 cm and 11 cm deep, the upper being 6 cm deep and the lower 5 cm. The completed upper nest had cup depth of 5 cm.

The foundation of the nest rim was constructed with thin and slender stems, probably inflorescence or fruiting branches (left). These were cleverly woven around other unidentified strips of vegetable matters and copious palm fibres meticulously stripped from the leaflets of palm fronds that grew in my garden. The green slender stems of Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) was also used.

Whole leaves of Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac), small pieces of bird’s nest fern (Asplanium nidus), dried banana stem fibres (Musa hybrid), thin pieces of bark and even a few waringin (Ficus benjamina) leaves were used to construct the side of the nest.

The base of the nest was lined with the dried leaves of other narrow but extremely long (to 35 cm) Dracaena spp. as well as dicotyledonous leaves.

Nearly all the nesting materials came from my garden except the slender, unidentified flowering or fruiting branches. These probably came from neighbouring gardens. All the leaves used were dried, pliable and picked up from the ground. Many were in varying stages of rot except the fig leaves that still had traces of green. No leathery leaves were used.

It would be interesting to document the nesting materials used by other Yellow-vented Bulbuls for comparison.

Input and images by YC.

On 9th May 2006 Ong Kiem Sian sent a series of images recorded at Ayer Keroh, Malaysia on the courtship behaviour of the Black-thighed Falconet (Microhierax fringillarius). “At first the male and female were rather far apart. Then they came closer, even closer and started pecking each other. And then… happy ending.”Generally, the courtship of falconids includes bouts of intense allopreening that can last up to an hour. Some of these birds also indulge in spectacular aerial displays, soaring together high up into the air and then suddenly making a downward dive. These displays may include loud calling.

Courtship feeding is also commonly seen. This behaviour is seen as enhancing male fidelity. It allows the female to judge whether the male is a good provider and capable of feeding her and her brood during the nesting period.Falconids and raptors in general indulge in frequent copulation. As the male bird generally does not guard his partner but leaves for relatively long periods after copulation, the chances of extra-pair copulation and cuckoldry can be high. So frequent copulation enhances the chance of paternity.

These birds copulate on tree perches, the female bowing low and exhibiting submissive couching and whining prior to copulation.

Thanks, Sian, for the input and images.

The Large-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus) is a nocturnal bird easily detected in the night when it responds to the beam of your torchlight with a pair of red eyes. In the day you come across it walking through scrubland when the bird suddenly scrambles off noisily. You would have probably disturbed it nesting on the ground. This cryptic bird is not easily detected otherwise. It nests on the open ground, using a small piece of ground that is scraped clean of debris.

Sreedharan Gopalsamy was at Air Keroh, Malaysia with his family in May 2006 when he encountered the antics of this bird. “I was there with my wife, Mala, and son, Varun, looking for and photographing birds. We eventually went to the area where we knew that the nightjar was nesting and walked around slowly and carefully, scanning the ground. When all of a sudden I felt and saw something brush my feet. It was the parent nightjar. It then moved about half a meter away and feigned an injured wing. After about 5-10 seconds of this, it moved about 5 meters away and repeated this behaviour and yet again about 10 meters away. Each time trying to get me to follow it. It subsequently flew to a long branch before heading into the undergrowth. Throughout this sequence my son, who was beside me, and I were rooted to our spot. My wife was a few meters behind. “It turned out that we were about 10 meters away from the nest (rather than stepping on the nest as Varun initially feared). I took my few shots and we moved away so that the mama could come back and look after her chicks. It was unusual for me in that I was not aware that nightjars exhibited this behaviour and that the parent would be so bold as to actually brush my feet.”

Comment by YC: I had the same experience some 20 years ago at Kent Ridge. As I was walking through the sparse undergrowth bordering the then Department of Botany, an adult Large-tailed Nightjar scrambled away and laid on the ground some distance away freigning a broken wing. As I followed it, it scrambled further away and so on. Returning to the original spot, I noticed a pair of eggs lying on a cleared piece of ground. A few days layer I when I was near the nest the incubating bird flew off noisily, leaving a pair of fluffy chicks. I returned the next morning taking care not to disturb the bird and managed to take a picture of the adult bird sitting on its crude nest.

Input by Sreedharan Gopalsamy; images by Tang Hung Bun (top), Sreedharan (middle) and YC (bottom, small).

KC Tsang posted an account of his encounter with the Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) where there were two adults and a juvenile. These escapees are apparently breeding successfully, as the presence of a juvenile shows.

The question now is, can an escapee that has bred successfully be considered a feral species?

According to our bird specialist R. Subaraj, “Feral species are escapees/introductions that fulfill three basic criteria: 1. the species has been around for at least a decade; 2. presence of a stable, self sustaining population; and 3. at least one breeding record in the “wild” around Singapore.

“While it is noted that the an immature Masked Lapwing was seen with two adults, there is no proof that the actual breeding took place in the ‘wild’ as it is old enough to be free-flying. Breeding by free-ranging species within the grounds of the zoo, night safari or bird park does not count. Besides there is ample food provided at those areas that makes the species less self-sustaining.

“I know that this all sounds terribly confusing but this is the basic international rules for acceptance of a feral species onto a country’s national bird checklist. There are obviously grey areas but we try to fulfill the above three criteria before adding anything introduced onto the checklist.“So as such, the Masked Lapwing will remain a mere escapee until otherwise proven, just like many other free-ranging species from our captive collections - Painted (Mycteria leucocephala) and Milky Storks (M. cinerea), Marabou Stork (Leptoptilus crumeniferus) (above), Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) (below), etc.“An interesting case is the Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis). In Singapore and most of the Malay Peninsula, this species is a common migrant occurring from September to April. However, over the western half of Singapore, we find Cattle Egrets throughout the year with many birds in breeding plumage even in December. They all fly out of the bird park each morning and return each evening. With thousands now present, the trees at the bird park become packed with egrets each evening and they intend to cull them. There isn’t a single breeding record outside the bird park! This despite the large range of the originally released (despite bird park denying this) population. At the eastern side of Singapore, where I stay, we still see the first migrant arrive in September and the last leave in April, except when a few summer like at the airport this year. With no breeding records outside the bird park and possibly the zoo, this species remains a common migrant (CM) only.

“We need all records, no matter whether it involves escapees or naturally occurring species. Based on data collected over time, we can then gauge the actual status of many birds. For now, we can only follow the accepted rules and go with what we have, without making rash judgement regarding status.”

Thanks to Subaraj for the above and KC Tsang (Masked Lapwing) and YC (Marabou Stork, Brown Pelican) and for images