Yes, how does an Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonestigma) tackles the fruits of the Indian cherry tree (Muntingia calabura)?

In an earlier post, KC Tsang gave an account of how this flowerpecker ate the fruits of the Indian cherry tree. The adult male pierced the partially ripe fruit with his lower mandible and with the help of the upper, compressed the fruit to get at the sweet pulp. A recent observation, complete with photographic evidence by Chan Yoke Meng, documents another method of feeding on the same fruit.

This was once a very common tree around the urban environment, spread far and wide by birds. Because birds flock to the fruiting tree, they leave a mess below that needs to be cleaned in a Singapore where labour was then becoming expensive. The tree is now not that common, found mostly in rural areas. The fruit is a small round berry of about 12 mm diameter, with numerous tiny seeds embedded in a soft, sweet pulp.

The sequence of the bird handling the fruit is shown above. It first picked the fruit by pulling it from the stalk. Then on a nearby perch it started to squeeze it with the stalk end towards the mouth. Because of the tear at that end of the fruit, the content was easily squeezed into the bird‘s mouth.

It then turned the fruit around and squeezed it on one side, then on the other. It finally positioned the fruit so that the stalk end was directed towards its mouth. After swallowing what was left of the content, it discarded the empty fruit skin.

The entire process lasted about slightly more than a second.

Blue Lorikeet (Vini peruviana) is a cute bird usually seen singly or in pairs, sometimes even in small groups (left). Extremely noisy, their high pitched, hissing screech, scheee-scheee scheee-scheee announce their presence even before they are seen. They are also excessively active, climbing the branches in search of flower nectar or flying around, even hovering as if suspended in the air.

The bird has another name that fits it well, Nunbird, as the blue-white plumage of the adult makes it appear like a nun’s habit.

Ong Tun Pin recently visited Tahiti and had an exciting encounter with the Nunbird:

“This is the bird that brought us lots of fun. Simply searching for them with my wife among coconut palms (luckily not too tall) is itself a unique experience. There were probably two pairs of the globally threatened lorikeet feeding on coconut nectar on a small islet about half the size of a football field.

“Not too hard to locate them by listening to their sharp chi-chi-chi call, but hard to take photos as they flew from one coconut palm to another.

“This lorikeet looks black and white in the field. Don’t you think it looks like a nun?

“I had to run around on this small touristy island to chase after the lorikeets. Luckily, other tourists had just left and we had the whole islet to ourselves.

“Listening to these cute lorikeets and on an idyllic coconut grove islet beside a turquoise blue lagoon is the best a bird watcher can ask for.”

The bird is confined to Cook Islands, Society Islands and the westernmost of the Tuamotu Islands. Although also named as Tahitian Lory, it appears to be extinct from Tahiti, although there has been a report of an attempt to reintroduce it in the 1940s. The bird is designated internationally VULNERABLE, the threat coming from rat (Rattus rasttus) and feral cats on the islands these bird are found in. The nest is a hole in a tree or a rotting coconut that is still attached to the palm.

References:
1. Forshaw, J. M. (1973). Parrots of the world. N.J.: T.F.H. Publications, Inc.
2. Forshaw, J. M. (2006). Parrots of the world: An identification guide. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press.

The African tulip (Spathodea campanulata) is a native of tropical West African. It is commonly found growing in this region. Once popular in Singapore for its attractive and colourful flowers, tall trees are now not tolerated along the wayside where falling branches may endanger life and limbs. They can still be seen in wastelands where their large, orange-red flowers top the crown.

The flower buds are filled with a sweetish liquid and during the days when they were growing all over the island, children used them as instant ‘water pistols’ to squirt each other’s eyes with the liquid. The buds are held erect and as they develop and split open, their copious nectar inside the calyx cup attracts numerous birds.

According to Corner (1988), the flowers remain on the tree for three days and attract sunbirds that suck the nectar from the base of the corolla by pecking a hole at the base. In this way the birds do not help in pollination, which is most likely done by night-flying bats.

Recently Johnny Wee sent an image of a Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) robbing the nectar by puncturing a hole at the base of the flower (above). I am sure there are many other birds similarly taking advantage of the copious nectar.

Unfortunately, we have limited information on the birds that are attracted to the attractive flowers of the African Tulip. Can it be because the flowers are high up on the tree and birders find it tedious to observe? Or are birders not sharing their observations?

Richard Hale has sent in the following: “…when I first came back to Singapore in the late eighties I was puzzled by some apparent Asian Glossy Starlings (Aplonis panayensis) which had yellow breasts. It took some time before I caught some with their heads inside the tulip tree flowers and realised that the yellow was in fact pollen.”

So apparently some birds collect the nectar in the conventional way while the bulbul above has “cuckold” the tree?

Image by Johnny Wee.

References:
1. Barwick, Margaret (2004). Tropical and subtropical trees. A worldwide encyclopaedic guide. London: Thames & Hudson.
2. Corner, E. J. H. (1988). Waysides trees of Malaya. Vol. 1-2. Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
3. Wee, Y. C. (2003). Tropical trees and shrubs - A selection for urban plantings. Sun Tree Pub., Singapore.

Johnny Wee returned from Perth, Australia recently and sent in these images of a crow acting aggressively when confronted by its image in the car’s side mirror. Yes, all over the world birds react the same when they see their image on a shiny surface.

While on this subject, I am also posting two other images sent in earlier – one on the Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach) by Dr Jonathan Cheah Weng Kwong (below left) and the other on the Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) by Allan Teo (below right).

Readers are referred to a number of earlier posts on other species of birds and their reactions to their own reflections 1, 2.

Images by Johnny (crow), Dr Jonathan Cheah Weng Kwong (shrike) and Allan Teo (hornbill).

Lam Chun See had a rare visitor in August 2007 when a pair of Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots (Loriculus galgulus) raided his guava tree (Psidium guajava). The birds were feasting on the fruits, giving Chun See a chance to record the visit - see his blog.

These are small, green parrots, about 12 cm long and rather rare in Singapore. The name comes from the prominent blue crown patch in the male, who also has a red throat-patch. According to Wells (2007), the bird rests and sleeps hanging upside down, with both feet tightly clutching the support. When it wants to defecate in such a position, it transfers support to one foot, flexes its body at an angle, raises its tail and shoot.

According to Chun See, “I noticed something interesting about the way it eats the guava. It takes a bite, bends down its head and ‘chews’ for a few second and then spits out what I think are the seeds. I thought birds always swallow the seeds and then excrete them; and thus help to propagate the plant?”

The female bird visited together with a juvenile, recognised by its yellowish bill (adults have black bills) (top).

The juvenile apparently was inexperienced and took a typical “begging” posture with lowered wings that shakes somewhat. It made begging cries all the time, asking to be fed. The female appeared to be ignoring it and continued feeding herself. This no doubt was to encourage the juvenile to learn how to feed itself.

A male, with a distinct blue patch on the crown, visited on another day by himself (left).

References:
1. Forshaw, J. M. (2006). Parrots of the world: An identification guide. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press.
2. Wells, D.R. (2007). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London.