Most of the newly hatched chicks can be grouped into two main groups. They can be hatched helpless, with eyes closed, naked or sparsely covered with down, in which case they are altricial. On the other hand they can be hatched with their eyes open, covered with down and can soon walk or swim, then they are precocial. The chicks of the Little Tern (Sterna albifrons) are neither altricial nor precocial - they are semi-precocial. Although the chicks can move about within a few hours after hatching and are covered with down the next day, they are hatched with their eyes closed and partially covered with down (above). The advantage here is that the chicks do not need total parental care in a habitat that is exposed and dangers lurks at every corner. By the second day the chicks are fully covered with down (above). They lie motionlessly and await the calls of their parents. When the parents are nearby and no threat seems to be around, they pop out with gaping mouths, sometimes chirping (below). At any instance of danger, they remain motionless again. Otherwise they prop up and open their beak when they hear the calls of their approaching parents (above). The parents feed them non-stop, having no time to preen themselves after splashing in sea water to refresh. The chicks find comfort having the parent close by (below). The days of the adult involves warming the chicks, protecting the chicks from the environment and feeding the chicks. Feeding usually take the form of broken down fish parts since the chick cannot swallow. Feeding is rotational and also cycles between the chicks.

Input and images by Dr Jonathan Cheah Weng Kwong.

“Over a period of two weekends, this pair of Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier) were observed to be feeding their young (from the noise made, probably two of them). Regular visits, at the peak times, were about 10-15 minute intervals. The parents’ foraging grounds were all around the garden and a big piece of wasteland behind my house. It’s quite amazing that they were able to find that much food so easily.

“I’ve attached a series of pictures of the parents, and also the Chiku tree (Manilkara zapota) where the nest was hidden (above). I don’t have any pictures of the nestlings as I didn’t want to disturb the nest. The Chiku tree was pruned at that point in time, and had just begun to sprout new growth - just enough to keep the nest out of sight from prying eyes.

“Both parent birds returned to the same perch, the sawn off branch, and held whatever prey that they had secured whilst perched there (above). They scanned the surroundings for a few seconds, as if making sure that there were no predators in the vicinity, before plunging into the nest to feed their young. As they did so, the chirps of the nestlings could be heard loudly, as presumably, they competed for the food.

“The range of food items fed to the nestlings was quite impressive, varying from fruits, to spiders, caterpillars and even a cicada (top, above and below)!”

“All shots taken with a Nikon D2X and the 80-400mm VR lens mounted on a tripod, and shot from my 2nd storey balcony. This explains the almost eye-level shots.“

Note: Most of the food fed to the chicks consisted of various invertebrates, mainly insects except what looks like a fig (Ficus sp.) (above). Growing chicks need lots of proteins and thus the animal food.

Input and images Khew Sin Khoon.

Keeping the feathers clean and in top condition is crucial to birds, if they are to function well and enable them to fly. Nearly all birds take a daily bath, if they have the opportunity. This is to rid the feathers of dust.

Bathing involves fluffing the feathers and vigorously beating the water. At the same time the head is dipped into the water regularly. The bird then shakes off the excess water and flies off to dry. The feathers need to be preened. Each feather, particularly the wing feathers need to be passed through the beak so that they are cleaned and the separate filaments put back in place.

If water is not available, some birds like the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus), will take sand or dust bath (all three images above). They roll about the loose sand or dust and shake vigorously about. The sand or dust particles are believed to absorb excess preen oil as well as remove dry skin and ectoparasites. These include lice, mites, fleas, ticks and what have you that damage the feathers or even suck the blood of the birds. Evidence of dust bathing is the presence of bowl-shaped hollows on the dry ground.

Sunbathing is another method indulged by birds. This is what the Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata) is doing in the above image. They lie down with their wings outstretched. The sun is thought to straighten the feathers and at the same time spread the preen oil throughout the feathers.

Top image of sparrow taking a dust bath courtesy of Fuhai Heng. Other images by YC.

The Little Tern (Sterna albifrons) is a small, slender and streamlined bird with a pair of narrow, sharp-pointed wings and forked tail (above). These adapt it well to a swift and graceful flight as well as plunge-diving for fish from a height above the water. The white belly helps to reduce its conspicuousness to underwater prey when the bird is flying over the water foraging.

As with most terns, there is courtship feeding when the male brings fish to feed the female. The pair may also indulge in aerial displays.

Once the pair has bonded and copulation occurs, the eggs are laid on a bare depression in the sand. A full clutch is three but usually only two eggs are laid (below). Both parents help in incubation and brooding. Whenever a parent bird arrives at the nest it will inspect the eggs and position them carefully before settling down to incubate them (below). Incubation usually lasts from 21 to 30 days. When hatched, the chick has its eyes closed (below left). The skin is clearly pink as the down feathers have yet to burst out of their sheaths. Within a few hours the chick dries up and begins to move about and by the next day it is totally covered with down feathers (below right). They are thus semi-precocial. The eggs are cryptic as they are thickly spotted with dark brown and pale lavender. However, with hatching the whitish inner surfaces of these egg shells can easily compromise the camouflage and attract the attention of predators. Thus they are removed as soon as possible and dumped some distance away (below).
Input and images by Dr Jonathan Cheah Weng Kwong.

It has been raining on and off these few weeks and the birds have not been around. Have you ever wondered what happened to them when it rained? And what do you think they did at these times? Well, there is at least one perceptive birder around and he has the answer…
James Heng sent in this account of his encounter with Pink-necked Green Pigeons (Treron vernans) at the Bukit Batok Nature Park one rainy afternoon in December 2006 (above: male pigeon left, female right).

“The year end has always been amongst the wettest period of the year. While the rain may be an inconvenience for some birders, it is also a good opportunity to observe the birds’ behavior during the rain. “On the afternoon of 18th December 2006, it rained while I was bird watching at Bukit Batok Nature Park (above). That was when I came across a small flock of Pink-necked Green Pigeons. There were two males and three females in that flock. I sought shelter by a hut that happened to be just 10-15m from the trees that they were perched. “When it started to drizzle lightly, two of them snuggled together shoulder-to-shoulder on a Cassia tree (as shown above, but on the frond of a ceram palm). There was obviously insufficient cover so when the drizzle turned to a downpour, all of them flew over to a tall, large-leafed tree, the cabbage tree (Fagraea crenulate) (below).

“They tended to choose perches that were at the top third of the tree. Upon closer observation, each bird was seen to perch on a branch that was immediately below at least two large overlapping leaves (below, showing branches with leaves but no birds). By having such leaves above them, they would remain dry. Perhaps due to the scarcity of choice spots, all the birds were perched separately.

“At about 3pm, during the first five minutes of the downpour, all of these birds shook their body and fluffed out their feathers. It might be to aid the drying of the wet feathers or perhaps to trap their body’s heat. After that, they became relaxed and sat down on their respective branches. In the next five to seven minutes they began to yawn and their eyelids became very heavy. They fought very hard to keep their eyes open. Before 15 minutes was up, all five of them were soundly asleep. So birds do take siestas! All this occurred as it rained relentlessly.
“When the PNG pigeon sleeps, its long neck is relaxed and it appears to be drawn into the bird’s body. The neck appears almost non-existent as only half of its head appears to be above its body. In fact, the bottom of the bird’s eyes is just at shoulder level. Just imagine the silhouette of a large fat plum. The male PNG pigeon has grey, pinkish-purple and orange on its head and breast. When it is all “balled up” in that sleeping state, the colors make it look like a clown!

“You have got to see it to appreciate such adorable proportions.

“When the rain ended some 45 minutes later, the Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier) and drongos were happily sunning themselves in the open again. Only one member of this flock of pigeons woke up to sun itself. The remainder of the four birds continued with their siesta.

“So after a thunderstorm, do search the horizontal branches of some of the tall broad-leafed trees. You might just be lucky enough to see those adorable “furry balls” in deep snooze.”

Input by James Heng, images by YC.