On 21st July 2006 at 3.30 pm, as I was entering my garden to do some weeding, I surprised a male Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea) together with a family of Javan Mynas (Acridotheres javanicus) (two adult and a juvenile) that were on the ground below my noni tree (Morinda citrifolia). There were noni fruits on the ground and I suspected that the koel was feasting on a fruit when it was surprised by my sudden appearance. The koel flew to a nearby tree across the road and loitered there, quietly moving about on the branches as well as the boundary wall of the house in front.

Half an hour later the koel returned to the partially eaten noni fruit and continued it’s feasting. It was then that I was sure that it ate the fruit (above). A few minutes later after it had its full, it silently moved away.It was then that a pair of Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier) came and continued with the feast (above). This was followed by the Javan Mynas after the bulbuls left the scene (below).Later, I found by my gate, a mess of Alexandra palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae) seeds together with bits and pieces of the whitish flesh of the noni fruit (below). The whitish pieces still had the distinctive smell of the noni fruit. The palm seeds were clean of their flesh but traces of red skin were pesent. This mess must have been regurgitated by the koel, as it has been established earlier that this bird regularly regurgitates palm seeds. I did not witness the regurgitation but circumstantial evidence suggested that the koel did it. After all, the only other birds present there then were the bulbul and the myna, both birds have not been reported to regurgitate seeds.

R. Subaraj has this to say: “Though koels do not normally go to ground, it is my believe that most birds do occasionally… especially when there is a good reason. In this case, the noni fruit must have been attractive. Many birds seldom come to ground as there are more dangers there.

“Koels regularly come to feed on the fruits of low roadside palms including Alexandra and MacArthur (Ptychosperma macarthurii).”

Input and images by YC.

K.C. Tsang was standing on the banks of the Sungei Punggol one morning in November 2006 watching all the Little Egrets (Egretta garzetta) massing along the banks very near to the water’s edge. Suddenly one of them took off, hovered over the surface of the water and within a split second plunged it long bill into the water and grabbed a fish.

He noticed that the birds always had the sun shining from the front of them in the morning, when hovering and fishing. There would thus be no shadow cast to alert the fish.

And K.C. added, “I though that these fellows feed mostly on insects among the grass. This has been observed most of the time. This is something new to me. Maybe a person with a video cam would be able to capture the whole episode.”

Our bird specialist R. Subaraj has this to say: “Little Egrets mainly feed by walking along the water’s edge or in the shallows, catching fish by stabbing at them with it’s long bill. The flying over the surface technique that you describe is therefore interesting and obviously an adaptation to take advantage of a situation. “The egrets feeding on grasshoppers in the fields around Singapore are usually Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) (above). This is their natural behaviour. Intermediate (Mesophoyx intermedia) and Little will also do that from time to time… but it is not their normal way of feeding.”

Input by K.C. Tsang; image of Little Egret by KC and Cattle Egret by John Lynn.

Meng and Melinda Chan were out on the evening of 19th November 2006 hoping to take some romantic sunset scenes when they happened to witness a scene that few birders are privileged to see.

Just after dusk they heard the nightjars calling away. Then suddenly they saw one bird flying from a low perch towards the ground, to disappear in the undergrowth. Meng went forward to take a closer look. The nightjars were mating, with one mounting the other and then both wobbled away.

By the time he got his camera and flash ready, the nightjars had already finished their business. He only managed to get images of both birds quietly sitting side by side – after the event of course (above).

So it dawned on them that nightjars mate during the night.

I suppose they do mate during the night. As well as do everything else. After all, they are nocturnal birds.

As with all or most nocturnal birds, the breeding behaviour of nightjars remain little known. From whatever that have been reported, we know that these birds indulge in aerial courtship displays involving showing off their various white markings on the wings, making wing clapping sounds and sometimes even vocalisation. Copulation often follows a successful display. Our bird specialist R. Subaraj helped identify the birds in the images and reports: “Yes, they are Large-tailed Nightjars (Caprimulgus macrurus). I would say that the one on the right is a male (large white throat patch) but the one on the left is a bit more challenging… probably an adult female, based on the large but buffy throat patch. Other features, such as the size of the wing patch and the amount of white in the outer tail feathers, are not visible here.”

Input and images by Meng and Melinda Chan.

Nestlings are continuously fed by the parent birds as they are unable to fend for themselves.

They can be seen bills agape, excitedly making soft calls whenever their parents arrive. These nestlings start to beg for food whenever their parents are around, either hearing the latter’s calls or actually seeing the parent birds around the nest. Vibrations as a result of the parent birds landing nearby will also trigger begging. In cavity nesting birds, the darkening of the nest as the parent bird enters the cavity triggers begging. Among some swifts air currents as a result of the adults’ arrival will do the trick.

Among recently fledged birds, the parents continue to feed them for some time before the former are independent enough to forage for themselves.

During this period, the juveniles will persistently and noisily beg for food. At the same time they will crouch open-billed and flutter their wings while begging. This behaviour is said provide visual and acoustic cues to the parent birds that stimulate feeding.

Such begging posture and begging call are more or less the same in most species of birds. This has led to the adult birds sometimes feeding the wrong species, be it birds or other animals. In fact there is a picture of a Northern Cardinal feeding goldfish for a few days at the edge of a garden pond (p. 8.107, Winkler, 2004). The bird was seen stuffing mouthfuls of worms into the gaping mouths of the goldfish, obviously mistaking the gaping mouths for those of its nestlings.

Reference
Winkler, D.W. (2004). Nests, eggs, and young: Breeding biology of birds. In: Podulka, S., Rohrbaugh, R.W. Jr & Bonney, R. (eds.) Handbook of bird biology. Ithaca, New York: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, p 8.1-152.

Credit for images from top: Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) nestling (YC), Pacific Swallow (Hirundo tahitica) fledgling (Chan Yoke Meng), Oriental Magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis) fledgling and parent (YC) and Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea ) fledgling (YC).

The House Crow (Corvus splendens) is a rather aggressive bird (above). At slightly more than 40 cm from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, this bird is up to 30% larger than the Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus). The crow moves in small flocks whereas the kite is usually found singly or in pairs during nesting periods. Only outside the breeding season does the kite feeds and roosts communally. Thus in any confrontation between these two birds, the kite invariably ends up the loser. This is especially so during nesting when the kite is vulnerable to attacks by crows.

Allan Teo is one photographer-birder who has noticed the aggressiveness of the crows. In November 2006 he wrote in saying: “I observed many times that the poor Black-shouldered Kite is always getting harassed by House Crows and many raptors.“ Allan observed a single House Crow harassing the three juvenile kites (above). When one of the kites flew above and hovered around the crow, baring its talons in the process, the latter simply ignored it. Allan also witnessed adult kites being harassed, possibly by Changable Hawk Eagle (Spizaetus cirrhatus) - that may well be juvenile Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) (above). Thankfully the attack was only a mock one that concluded with only nerves ruffled. There was another case of these kites being harassed by marsh harriers. He has also seen images of the Steppe Eagles (Aquila nipalensis) that appeared some months ago around the Changi reclaimed areas attacking the nest of the Black-shouldered Kites. In this case the kites managed to chase off the eagles.

Tang Hung Bun reported seeing House Crows harassing White-bellied Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster) in Malacca in March 2006. He managed to capture the action on video with the sea eagles rolling their bodies in flight and occasionally managing to turn the table on the crows, chasing them off in the process (1 and 2).

Input by Allan Teo and Tang Hung Bun. Images by Allan except House Crow by Tang.