Dr Chua Ee Kiam has generously agreed to share his image of a sleeping Banded Pitta (Pitta guajana) that he encountered in Danum Valley in Sabah, Malaysia recently (left).

Dr Chua recounts: “A Banded Pitta was peacefully asleep with its head beneath its wing. It was perched on a small branch at chest level perhaps to avoid snakes and other animals whose presence may cause the branch to move or vibrate. I have not seen such brilliant colours and never at such close-up. And it was so tempting to capture such an exquisite bird. The bird was left to continue its slumber.“

We first posted “What does a tailorbird do at night” in August 2007 showcasing a Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) sleeping in Taman Negara, Malaysia. Since then we have received images of Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) and Common Tailorbird as well as a Chestnut-naped Forktail (Enicurus ruficapillus).

Much as we do not encourage people to disturb sleeping birds, we do need to document them for scientific purposes. Photographers are urged to restrain from disturbing the sleeping birds excessively when photographing them.

Note: Thanks to Ashley Ng and Daisy O’Neill, see responses below, we have the proper identification of the pitta and made the relevant corrections. The bird was wrongly stated as Blue-winged Pitta (Pitta moluccensis). The title of this piece has similarly been changed.

Input and image by Dr Chua Ee Kiam.

In 2001 we noticed a pair of Coppersmith Barbets (Megalaima haemacephala) excavating a nest hole in a dead branch of a Flame of Forest tree (Delonix regia) in our work place. For two consecutive seasons we watched them feed (above) and successfully raised a pair of chicks each time.

In 2003 the pair returned to use the same nest hole. On 25 March 2003, after a heavy rainstorm the previous evening, we found the host branch on the ground and, on scanning the area, one small and wet shivering chick was located. When we went back later to the site we found the second chick. Their frail condition and small size left us wondering whether they would make it. The weights of the chicks were measured (refer table below).

We put a towel in a cardboard box and placed the chicks inside (left top). Never having raised any barbet chicks before, we initially fed them with ripe berries from the Indian Cherry tree (Muntingia calabura) by holding the chicks in our hands and slightly squeezing the pulp and juice into their bills (left bottom). After initial hesitation on the first day, both chicks ate better. As the chicks needed constant care and feeding, they were kept in the office during working hours taken home at night either by the author or Phang Chee Mun.

By the fourth day in our care, more feathers had grown. We continued with the diet of berries but found that, though the chicks were eating well, they had lost weight. A friend who keeps Spotted Doves (Streptopelia chinensis) recommended that we try dog food pellets as these were a good source of protein. We immediately started the chicks on a diet of dog food pellet (first soaked in water till soft and fed in small pieces), papayas and bananas. Colleagues who went out for lunch contributed part of their fruits to the chicks. It was noticed that the chicks would always flick away any excess water before swallowing the pellets. The chicks were very demanding and every half to three-quarters of an hour would call out loudly for food.

On 3 April 2003, the chicks had put on weight again and by 7 April the chicks were learning to pick up food themselves. The chicks were kept in an open box and we made mini stands for them to perch on (right top). At home in the evenings the chicks were placed on a tree in the garden (right bottom). Both chicks had different characters, the bigger chick being dominant and always bullying the smaller one. On 8 April, the chicks started to explore away from their cozy box and on 9 April, when placed on a tree, they started to jump around the branches.

On 10 April, the chicks started to exercise their wings and on 11 April, the bigger chick was able to fly a distance of about one metre while the smaller chick only managed about 0.3 m.

On 13 April, the bigger chick stopped eating the dog food pellet and was only eating papaya while the smaller chick continued taking both pellet and papaya. On the evening of 14 April, the bigger chick refused to come down from the tree in my garden and then flew off across the road towards the larger trees opposite my house. The smaller chick tried to follow but could only reach some shrubs in my neighbour’s garden.

The next morning I heard both chicks calling. The bigger chick was on a tall tree opposite my house, calling and encouraging the smaller chick which was still in my neighbour’s garden to join it. Before leaving for work I retrieved the smaller chick, placed it in the tree in my garden and left some papaya for it. In the evening when I came home the smaller chick was still in the same tree while the bigger chick was perched high up in another tree in my garden. Later, the smaller chick flew strongly and joined the bigger chick on a tree opposite my house. Both roosted there that night.

The next day, 16 April and thereafter, the chicks would return back to the tree in my garden every morning and evening to eat the papaya which I would leave out for them. The free fruit attracted the attention of other birds too and after 30 April, the chicks stopped returning to the fruit tray. Though no more dependent on the hand-outs, the chicks learned to survive on their own and continued to be seen together daily for another few more weeks and had probably learned to source for their own food.

Input by Chiu Sein Chiong; images by Ooi Beng Yean and Phang Chee Mun.

The above was first published in Suara Enggang as: Chiu, S.C., Ooi, B.Y. and Phang C.M. 2007. Coppersmith Barbet Chicks With a Steely Spirit. Suara Enggang 15 (2):13-14.

Cannas are popular border plants with large, showy flowers of red, yellow or yellow spotted with red. These plants are native to tropical America and have been cultivated in Singapore for decades. All these garden cannas are hybrids (below).

The pollinators of canna in its native tropical America are bees, hummingbirds and bats. The local bird species are not adapted to these exotic flowers, so they have found shortcuts, or at least a few of them have, to tap on the nectar without helping to pollinate the flower in the process. This has happened in many exotic garden plants and wayside trees, one example posted recently is the African Tulip.

In canna, Melinda Chan has recently sent an image showing a sunbird poking its bill into the base of the flower to get at the nectar (left). By doing so, the plant has obviously been cheated.

Wells (2007) reports the Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) and Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) robbing the flowers of the lily Canna indica of nectar by puncturing through the corolla base.

We encourage the documentation of such nectar harvesting in other exotic flowering plants. If anyone has any such observations or images, please share them.

Input by Melinda Chan and YC; top image by YC, bottom by Melinda.

Reference:
Wells, D.R. (2007). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London.

More than a year ago, KC Tsang sent in images of a male Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea) eating the fruits of Indian cherry (Muntingia calabura) in his father-in-law’s garden (left). I did not pay much attention to them then as these fruits are sought after by many species of birds.

Then last year KC sent in an interesting account of the Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonestigma) manipulating these fruits. And this year we had a whole series of images by Chan Yoke Meng of the same species of flowerpecker squeezing the contents of the fruits by a slightly different method.

Rediscovering the koel’s images eating the fruits, I was fascinated by the fact that this biggish bird simply swallows the fruit whole. Having a wide gape, koels can also swallow the fruits of the Alexandra palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae), to regurgitate the seeds in due course. There is no need to regurgitate seeds of the Indian cherry as they are small and numerous, easily passed through the gut to exit at the other end.

The Asian Koel is essentially a fruit eater. The different fruits taken include figs (Ficus spp.), papaya (Carica papaya), Morus, Zizyphus, Brazilian cherries (Eugenia uniflora), tamarind or assam (Tamarindus indica), Sterculia foetida, yellow oleander (Thevetia peruviana) and fruits of mistletoes.

Palm fruits include fishtail palm (Caryota sp.), Chinese fan palm (Livistona chinensis) and oil palm (Elaies guineensis).

Also, flower nectar and flowers of blue pea (Clitoria ternatea).

The bird has also been reported to eat grasshoppers, caterpillars, snails and birds’ eggs.

Input by KC Tsang and YC, images by KC.

Reference:
Payne, R.B. (1997). Family Cuculidae (cucoos). Pp.508-607 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 4. Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.

The Red-breasted Parakeet (Psittacula alexandri) has been documented by Mark Chua eating fruits of the African tulip tree (Spathodea campanulata) (above). This is another example of an exotic bird eating fruits of an exotic plant. The earlier example is of the Tanimbar Corella (Cacatua goffini) eating starfruit tree (Averrhoa carambola) (1, 2).

In the case of both the exotic parrots, they have managed to exploit a food niche that has been neglected by other species (unless there is evidence that other species also feed on these fruits).

African tulip is a tree native to Tropical West Africa. It was once widely grown in Singapore but because it tends to shed its branches during tropical storms, it is no more seen along roads. However, many still exist in wastelands and areas off the beaten track.

In Hawaii, it is still grown as a wayside tree (above).

The orange-red flowers are large and attractive, found in erect branches around the periphery of the crown. Asian Glossy Starlings (Aplonis panayensis) and sunbirds also feed on the nectar but Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) collects the nectar in an unconventional way.

The fruits of African tulip are erect, woody flattened pods that burst open to release the many, flattened, winged seeds. The seeds are wind-dispersed and so do not depend on any animals to spread them. However, to discover that Red-breasted Parakeet eats the seeds is interesting. In the process of harvesting the seeds, the bird shake them up in the pod and thus help to disperse them into the air. There is also the possibility of one or a few of the eaten seeds passing through undamaged, thus dispersed some distance from the parent tree.

Tailorbirds have been known to collect the seeds to line their nests.

Input by Mark Chua; image of parrot by Mark and of trees by YC.