Many birders would have been aware of the family of Buffy Fish Owls (Ketupa ketupu) that inhabit the forest of the Lower Peirce Reservoir. Recently the juvenile owl was the focus of much attention as it sits quietly on its perch during most days, at times fishing, feeding, bathing or simply napping.

Then yesterday morning (21st April 2007), there was a near tragedy as the juvenile owl got entangled in a mass ot fishing line left in the water by some irresponsible fishing enthusiast. But let Amy Tsang relates the incldent…

“Today at Lower Pierce around 9 am in the morning, KC and I went to look for Buffy, the Fish Owl at the spot which KC had last photographed it. Having missed it previously despite making 4-5 earlier attempts to do so, I was very determined to see Buffy today. We made our way along the boardwalk to Buffy’s last favoured spot, and passed two young men attempting to cast their fishing lines from the boardwalk. I thought no more of this sight since fishing is allowed in some parts of the reservoirs.

“When I made my way into the forest edge next to the boardwalk, Buffy’s presence was not immediately apparent to me as the owl’s beautiful light and dark brown plumage enables it to remain quite well camouflaged against the forest background. I circled the ground for a while looking for Buffy, and suddenly realised that she was practically just above me, seated quietly on a branch about 20 feet above the ground. Our eyes locked when I looked at Buffy and she was lovely! Then I noticed a messy entangled fishing line hanging below her, and I realised to my horror that it was actually caught up with one of Buffy’s feet/talons (above, arrow). I immediately called KC to see Buffy as it was in trouble. We both felt that Buffy’s situation was serious as her life could be threatened if the fishing line around her feet got caught up in some bush or tree branches. She will be immobilised, unable to move and hunt/feed herself and unable to flee from any of her predators.

“KC swung into action, calling Nature Society Singapore’s active birders-cum-leaders who then contacted Ms Sharon Chan of National Parks for help to rescue Buffy from her dangerous plight. Alan Owyang from NSS arrived first. Just before he did so, Buffy was attempting on its own to extricate itself from the messy entangled fishing line from around its feet/talon. KC observed that Buffy flew down from its perch to the ground, and then up again to another lower tree branch (right). Then Buffy used its beak trying to undo the tangled fishing line from its feet, but did not succeed in her attempts to do so. It got a bit tired then, and seemed to nod off to sleep for a while. Soon within the hour, Sharon arrived with several NParks rangers along with their rescue equipment. As we all watched Buffy, and the rescue team wondered how best to handle the rescue, Buffy was roused from its rest and started again to wriggle its body and feet. Perhaps, it sensed that many angels of mercy were around her and she found strength to try again to extricate herself from this fishing line mess. Then to everyone’s delight and relief, Buffy suddenly flew up from her perch and seemed to break free from her entanglement, flying swiftly to another patch of the forest behind her. She was FREE at last! And probably very hungry too as she may not have been able to actively hunt for her breakfast given her predicament.

“We spoke with Sharon after this incident and she fedback that loose discarded fishing lines are a hazard to both birds and animals. She had previously rescued a monkey which was similarly entangled in discarded fishing lines, and she and her rangers did this at some risk to themselves as the other monkeys were very agitated at the sight of their handling the distressed monkey. She said that clearly public education must actively continue to make members of the public realise that such items like discarded fishing lines can be very life threatening to our wildlife, and they must exercise responsibility to dispose of such items appropriately outside of the forest parks. She also highlighted that there are designated areas for fishing and it is important for the public to stay to those designated areas, so that problems as what we had encountered will not occur and endanger our wildlife.

“When we finally left the Buffy Owl’s spot and returned to the boardwalk, we came across another man who fashioned his own fishing rod from a long palm stem. ‘Another potential killer in the making’ we thought, as the fisherman may also leave behind some fishing line when he is done with his fishing activity. Being wiser now, we informed him that fishing is illegal at the spot where he was and that NPark rangers would book him if they saw him doing so. He took note and quickly left the place.

“We are glad that the beautiful Buffy Owl has the chance to live another day, as she succeeded in breaking free from her entanglement with the fishing line mess. We urge everyone to spread this public education message so that the wildlife in our forest parks will never have to face such dangers, as some may not be as lucky as Buffy is today!”

Input by Amy Tsang, images of entangled Buffy by KC Tsang and Buffy in happier times by Johnny Wee.

Red-breasted Parakeet (Psittacula alexandri) (above left), a feral resident, is breeding and making its presence felt. Slowly but surely, it is replacing the resident Long-tailed (Psittacula longicauda) (above middle) and the other feral, Rose-ringed (Psittacula krameri) (above right).

The bird was first recorded in 1943 as a feral species, after which there were more sightings. However, there were no reports of breeding until the 1980s.

Parakeets usually pair for life. Courtship occurs mostly around nest entrances or in trees nearby. This may take the form of allopreening. The birds nest in tree cavities and several pairs may nest in the same or nearby trees. They often make use of nesting cavities once used by woodpeckers and barbets, frequently enlarging them before use. Three to four eggs are laid on a layer of wood dust at the bottom of the hollow.

A small colony of Red-breasted has established a permanent nesting site in Changi Village among the old angsana trees (Pterocarpus indicus) along the main road. The image on the left shows a nesting pair, with the male perching outside and the female just emerging from the cavity.

The male is a possible nominate P. a. alexandri but the subspecies of the female is questionable. Why? Her lower mandible is black while the upper is partially black. The female of this subspecies alexandri has coral red bill.

The images above show a chick in the nesting cavity being fed by a female Red-breasted. The chick peeping out of the nest cavity (above left) has red bill, as is the case with this subspecies. However, the female has coral red upper but blackish lower mandible (above centre and right). This is very unlike the female in the other image.

In a further posting, the subspecies of the Red-breasted will be further discussed.

Images by Chan Yoke Meng.

During the last few weeks the resident juvenile Buffy Fish Owl (Ketupa ketupu) at Lower Peirce Reservoir had been regularly taking its bath in the shallows of the reservoir (left). It flew into the water either in the morning or in the evening, usually whenever it was hot and sunny. Did it bathe at night? It might but was there anyone around to witness it bathing in the dark?

According to Johnny Wee who is familiar with this stretch of the forest, he used to regularly see a pair of Buffy Fish Owls around. On and off he would witness one bathing or fishing at around 9.00 am. The pair disappeared for about a year but returned with a juvenile during the second half of February 2007 (below). He used to see the adults feeding the juvenile.

This juvenile owl has now been seen feeding itself. It was even photographed feeding on a snail.

In an earlier post, a pair of Spotted Wood-owls (Strix seloputo) at Swiss Club Road used to bathe every morning if rain during the night had left puddles in the Turf Club Car Park.

Now why does an owl bathe?

Like most non-aquatic birds, an owl takes a bath once in a while to clean its feathers. It usually stands in shallow water, either at the edge of a lake or stream and flaps its wings to splash water over the body. The bird may sometimes immerse its body in deeper water. Or even take a plunge bath – flying at a low angle and splashing briefly in the water.

And after a bath the owl will vigorously shakes off the water from its body, preens its feathers and sometimes also dries itself in the sun.

Preening will rearrange the barbs and barbules of the feathers. During preening, oil from the preen gland located at the base of the tail will help keep the feathers from becoming brittle. The oil is also believed to have fungicidal and bactericidal properties.

Bathing may also help remove external parasites, mainly lice.

Top image by Allan Teo, bottom image by Johnny Wee.

I was at the Singapore Botanic Gardens a few days ago and was fascinated to see four Javan Myna (Acridotheres javanicus) (left top) and a single Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) cooperating in a foraging exercise. They were in a single file spaced about 40 cm apart and moving together on the lawn. As they moved forward, one or two birds broke formation to pick up a morsel. But they returned to maintain the single formation.

Initially the Common Myna was on the right end of the formation but as the birds moved forward, it changed places with the other Javan Mynas. In the image on the left it is second from the right.

Over at my neighbour’s small patch of garden, two grasscutters were operating their noisy lawn mower and portable cutter (right). Over and above this din was the noisy chatter of mynas, sounding as if a fight was under way.

Yes, it was a squabble. A small group of Javan Mynas was fighting over the privilege of foraging around the immediate vicinity of the gardeners. As the grass was being mown and trimmed, insects and other invertebrates were being exposed and these birds were excitedly having a feast.

So bold were the birds that they moved very close to the feet of the gardeners, ignoring the blades and the noise.

I once witnessed a grass cutting session in the field overlooking Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The cutters were driving grass-cutting contraptions as the field was large. And a small flock of mynas was noisily hovering around, following the machine and having a great time finding food.

The chicks of most passerines enclose their wastes within a flexible bag known as a faecal sac. The parent birds meticulously remove these sacs and dispose them some distance away from the nest. These sacs help keep the nest sanitary and the absence of wastes around the nest will not attract unwelcome attention, especially from potential predators.

In the Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum), the adult birds attempt to remove these sacs as and when they appear from the cloaca of the chicks. But in many instances they are not able to cope with the situation and the chicks simply excrete the sacs out through the opening of the nest.

This is not the case with the Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus). During the first two days after hatching, the adults will enter the nest, pick up the faecal sacs and swallow them. It is believed that at this early stage of the chicks’ development they are not able to totally digest the food fed to them. The adults thus recycle what the chicks excrete to benefit from the nutrients that are still present in the faeces.

However, as the chicks get older and their digestive system becomes more efficient, they are able to extract most of the nutrients in the food. The adult birds thus simply remove the sacs and dump them some distance away from the nest.

From observations, it was noted that the white-eye chicks excrete only when an adult was around and that they would do this in an orderly way. The moment a chick stuck its posterior up, the adult would immediately move near and grabbed the faecal sac directly from the cloaca (above). The adult would then fly off and dispose of it some distance away. In the example shown on the right, the adult picked up the sac but somehow dropped it.

Is it a wonder then that the nest of the Oriental White-eye is always clean?

Images by Chan Yoke Meng.