Within a total of 16 species of Asian barbets and a size not more than 17cm, the Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala) has to be about the smallest barbet species in South East Asia.

While it looks cute with colourful face markings of yellow, red, black and white to look like being painted up for a circus parade (left, below right), this species of barbet while similar in looks in both sexes shows courtship behaviour to be blatantly different from their cousins.

Known to be intelligent birds, the Coppersmith Barbet has the capability to exhibit rogue behaviour with astute strategy and sly. I chanced upon this uncouth behaviour during their ‘courtship’ recently, well… if the courtship was anything worth describing at all!

The image of the pair I saw appeared to be two black dots high up on a skeleton tree, at least 200 feet away from my naked eye. The dead tree at the edge of town and devoid of all foliages provided full views of the pair of green, feathered barbet in copulation behaviour seen through my spotting scope 30x.

I had two opportunity blue shots and a few after images to show the expression and behaviour of this mainly frugivorous species and I delight to share with you the sequence of events of this lucky opportunity and uncommon observation.

The big headed male flew in swiftly and perched near a female barbet on the skeleton tree. He had in his large beak, two dark and round looking fruits that looked like berries. I was anticipating courtship feeding but that did not take place.

Instead, the male barbet wasted no time to mount the female as though to say, ‘Come on, let’s get on with it!’

Copulation took place for about a second and showed the image of the male still clutching on to the berries and won’t let go (below left). The female was seen having to arch her neck backwards trying to reach for the berry above with her pleading body language of, ‘I want that berry! Gee… me that berry!’

The next image showed the male released only one berry to the female, who gobbled it up very quickly, while he kept the second berry in his beak possessively and ready in waiting to commence a second copulation session (above right).

The female bird knew what she had to do to get that second berry. Without any persuasion from the male, with her short legs and zygodactylous toes (two toes pointing forward and two backwards) she crept up to him along the branch and performed a somersault with her head hanging down, like a circus trapeze artist and in a ‘69’ position, in readiness to receive another bonk (left).

The moment the male barbet dismounted, it was noticed that the female was abandoned and left to swallow her price and pride while the male wasted no time to fly off to another perch, his back facing the female and vainly began preening himself (below left). There was no ‘lovey, dovey’ affection seen like doves or pigeons do before or after copulation.

Perched at a good vantage view and baring his red band across his upper chest for the world to see, he scanned around with roving eyes through his black eye stripe (above right).

As though having had not enough, he turned towards the direction of the female barbet, wondering if he could have another chance with her… this time, free without any berry!

By the time the third session had finished (Sorry folks, ‘Bird Censorship Board’ disallowed further scoping of illicit blue images!), both male and female barbets commenced preening themselves, cocked up their tails and pooped.

The gallant male then flew off without much a do having ‘bought two and got one free.’

The naïve looking female was left bewildered on the perch with an image expression, wondering why she received only two berries and succumbed herself to three bonks.

‘Mmm…just don’t add up’ said the female barbet with her little brain behind her hallmark patch - a red fore crown.

Does the behaviour of Coppersmith Barbets sounds familiar?

SUBMITTED BY DAISY O’NEILL (Avian Writer), PENANG, MALAYSIA.

On 2nd February 2007, Angie Ng wrote: “Did I wake up the owl with my trampling on the leaf litter? Aren’t owls supposed to be asleep in the day? What owl is this? It gave me a fright! I thought I saw a gremlin starring at me, for trespassing into a forest which will soon be destroyed to make way for an Integrated Resort! (above left)”

The bird in question, a Buffy Fish Owl (Ketupa ketupu) (above left), was perching on a branch of one of two Dracaena maingayi trees (above right) in the coastal forest of Sentosa. Angie spotted splashes of dried white droppings on the saplings and twigs under the tree. On looking up she spotted the owl.

This owl is most probably the same as that spotted on the morning of 23rd June 2006 by Yury Averkiev, a member of Club SNAP photographic forum. It was then seen along a footpath from the underwater world to the orchid gardens.

According to our bird specialist R. Subaraj then, “A most interesting location as the habitat there isn’t really typical fish owl habitat. This is indeed a scarce and localised owl in Singapore with records only from Pulau Ubin, the Central Catchment Nature Reserve and the western side of the island including Sungei Buloh. There are also a couple of records from near the Singapore Botanic Gardens but these could be strays from the nearby nature reserves.

“Sentosa is fairly far from the nearest known location. There are two possibilities for this occurrence. It can be an escapee (maybe even deliberate, considering it’s Sentosa) or a stray or dispersant from somewhere in Singapore or the Riau Archipelago (where the species was reconfirmed at Bintan about 12 years ago).

“There is no way to be certain, but a good record nonetheless. This is a first record for Sentosa.”

See also Joesph Lai’s account.

Input by Angie Ng, YC and R. Subaraj, images by Angie.

Have you ever seen an owl in its natural environment? I bet many have not. Yet many have heard of owls. I did, even when I was a small boy. I was told that owls brought bad luck, especially when one was found on the roof of your house. This meant that one of the occupants would soon die. For owls was believed by the superstitious Chinese to herald death. I only saw my first owl some few years ago. And only when I went out of my way to seek it out in the middle of the night.

Nowadays birders as well as non-birders encounter owls every now and then - even during the day. You need not go to the rural and forested areas as an owl was spotted even in Chinatown some years ago.

Can this be because there are more owls now than before? That the government’s Garden City Campaign has seen to an increased in bird population?

The Barn Owl (Tyto alba) is relatively common in urban areas (above left). Buffy Fish Owl (Ketupa ketupu) (above right), Spotted Wood Owl (Strix seloputo) (below left), Collared Scops Owl (Otus bakkamoena) (below right) as well as Brown Hawk Owl (Ninox scutulata) (top) can be seen in wooded areas and parks, not necessarily in thick forests.

And if your are fortunate, you may be able to see the rare Oriental Scops Owl (Otus sunia) (below left) or even the Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) (below right) that visit during the winter months.

People are always fascinated with owls and any sighting invariable creates ripples, if not waves among birdwatchers. Owls always trigger some kind of emotions in us. Why is this so?

Can it be because they lead rather secretive lives, being active only after dark? That they are creatures of the night? And that not many people see them? Or is it because of the way they look? Very unlike most other birds. The head and face appear somewhat similar to ours. Looking like a human face. Those forward-facing large round eyes! The curved bill that appears like a nose! I am sure the close-up face of the Short-eared Owl on the left proves the point!

Input by YC; images by David Tan (Barn Owl, Short-eared Owl), KC Tsang (Oriental Scops Owl), Chan Yoke Meng (Buffy Fish Owl, Spotted Wood Owl), YC (Brown Hawk Owl) and Dr Jonathan Cheah Weng Kwong (Collared Scops Owl).

K.C. Tsang was birding recently in Perak, Malaysis with Alan OwYong and Connie Khoo when they had an encounter of the musical kind. Here is KC’s story: “We were driving along through the bushes in the Malim Nawar Wetlands when we came across a chorus of beautiful singing conducted by a number of male Common Ioras (Aegithina tiphia). They were trying to impress upon the females that they were the ones the females should receive. The females would flutter from bush to bush followed ever so closely by the males.

“As can be seen from my photograph (left top), the females were playing so hard to get, or showing no interest at all. However, there was one very unusual behavior of the female caught on camera. It was after hearing so much close quarter singing from the males that she decided to let herself fall over while still holding on to the branch (left below).

“Now, was she saying no to the male, or was she saying YES let us have some kinky sex! The male could very well replied… what the hell are you doing hanging upside down like this? …you know I can do it this way.”

As we all know birds don’t do it hanging upside down. But do we, actually? We need to have an open mind, KC. Who knows, one fine day you may actually come across a pair mating with the female hanging down. Or was she falling head over heels? Anyway, this may be a new record for the Avian Kama Sutra.

On the afternoon of 3rd February 2007, I was alerted by the shrill call of a bird outside my windows. Curious, I went out into the garden to investigate.

There, perching on a branch of a Golden Penda (Xanthostemon chrysanthus) growing along the road outside was a female Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea). But it was not making any call, just sitting quietly on the branch. I looked around and spotted the source of the high shrill call.

It came from a Javan Myna (Acridotheres javanicus), perching a little higher and less than a metre away on the same tree (above). The myna was scolding the koel for more than five minutes. Both birds remained where they were, the koel simply did not bother about the scolding.

The koel must have arrived suddenly on the tree where the myna was. And the latter must have objected to its presence. There was no attempt at mobbing, only scolding.

My arrival ultimately saw the myna leaving the scene, but not the koel. This bird simply remained, not bothered by my presence and calmly sat on the branch for more than 15 minutes.

All it did was turn its head side to side every now and then (above left, below left). Once it did a 180 degrees turn, facing the opposite direction (above right). Then it defecated twice and yawned (below right).

The bird also stretched its wings and right leg, the left firmly holding on to the branch, resulting in the tail feathers fanning out (below left). After some time it stretched its wings, also resulting in the tail feathers fanning (below right).

After about 30 minutes the koel left its perch and flew off to the fruiting branch of the nearby Alexandra palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae) and feasted on the ripe fruits.

Input and images by YC.