On the morning of 7th November 2007, Tan Teo Seng brought me a cutting of a creeper with a Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) nest still attached to it. Inside were three damaged eggs.

The nest was attached to a number of aerial roots of the creeper and a single leaf of the climber, an araceous plant. A single dried avocado (Persea americana) leaf was sewn to the leaf of the climber to complete the shell within which the nest was lodged (above left). Copious cobwebs were used in the construction of the nest, as shown in previous posts (1, 2). So good was the camouflage that the gardener did not notice the nest when he trimmed the plants growing along the wall of the porch.

When Teo Seng discovered the gardener’s mistake, he immediately took the nest, still attached to the plant stem and hung it back. There were three small, light bluish eggs covered with various sized chestnut blotches and speckles.

The next day when he examined the nest, he found a small puncture in each of the three eggs. When he handed the nest and contents to me three days later, the openings were large and the eggs empty (left).

A few questions need answers. Did the parent birds returned and punctured the eggs, considering that the nest and eggs were disturbed? Could it be predation? In which case why were the eggs not seriously damaged? Are there any animals capable of causing a small puncture on the egg to extract the contents?

If any reader has an answer, please share with us.

An earlier failed nesting of a pair of tailorbirds was due to the parent birds not feeding the two chicks that eventually died in the nest.

Images by YC.

On the cloudy morning (1000-1100 hours) of 15th January 2008, Tan Gim Cheong was at Hindhede Quarry, Bukt Timah Nature Reserve when he encountered an Orange-headed Thrush (Zoothera citrina)…

“Arrived at Hindhede to the sound of a large group of people having team building activities.

“Looked around and located the beautiful Orange-headed Thrush (which betrayed its presence with its singing) on the ground. Moving about on the ground, it sang for about 10 minutes, foraged a bit, sang a bit more, then settled to preen. It flew three or four times, some of which were to avoid foraging squirrels/treeshrews. Its flight was swift and direct. During the first flight, it flew onto a branch at eye level and preened itself a bit. Even when the big group of people moved near, the OHT didn’t seem too concerned.”

Gim Cheong returned to the site the next day, this time from 1600-1700 hours when it was partly cloudy before turning sunny…

“Quiet today, very few people. OHT did not sing today. Foraging on the ground, it ‘poped’ across the openings in the vegetation every now and then allowing for unblocked views. As I thought about its behaviour, the day before and today, I get this feeling that as it foraged nonchalantly, it was also curious and was observing me as much as I was observing it!”

This thrush breeds in the Himalayas, South China, through to Southeast Asia. It winters in the Malay Peninsular, Java, Sumatra, Bali and Borneo. It is a rare visitor to Singapore.

The above is an interesting piece of observation by a young perceptive birdwatcher. It is heartening to note that more and more birdwatchers are now sending reports of bird behaviour to e-groups like pigeon-holes, BESG and even wildbirdSingapore. Obviously competition is good for everyone.

An image of the Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea) eating the fruits of Pipturus argenteus (Family Urticaceae) was recently submitted by bird photographer Chan Yoke Meng (left top).

This is a shrub with unisexual flowers and small, black fruits in a white foamy and fleshy receptacle (left bottom). The entry in Keng (1990) states: “A fairly recent introduced weed of the Pacific Isls., found in waste places in city areas.”

Unlike most cuckoos that feed on insects, this koel feeds largely on fruits. This is another example of birds adapting to exotic plants in their search for food.

Input and image of koel by Meng and Melinda Chan; Angie Ng helped in identifying the plant and KF Yap supplied the images of the plant and reported that he has once seen an Asian Koel eating a ripe papaya (Carica papaya) fruit.

Reference:
Keng, H. (1990). The concise flora of Singapore. Singapore University Press.
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December 2007 was a time when masses of Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) larvae were seen munching through the crowns of the roadside tree, Senegal mahogany (Khaya senghalensis). Jeremy Lee reported hearing a low crunching sound as they work their way through the foliage, to totally defoliate a few trees along Loyang Way (above). There were hundreds of them and many ended on the ground below, to slowly die from lack of food.

Those that remained on the trees soon turned into cocoons (left middle), hanging from the twigs like miniature roosting fruit bats, as Jeremy puts it.

Othere reported seeing the caterpillars at the Chinese Garden, Jurong and at Pulau Ubin.

The spate of wet weather may have triggered the egg laying. Whether this is so or not, December is generally the month when these caterpillars appear.

The larvae are large, growing to 7 cm long or more (left top). They make a juicy meal for any reasonably sized bird, especially when they are so conspicuous - when the tree is totally defoliated. Why then are there no reports of birds taking these juicy caterpillars – except for one lone record from Pulau Ubin of an Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) enjoying them?

Can it be that birders are less interested in observing a tree covered with caterpillars for potential hungry birds than a tree covered with birds?

KF Yap believes that something is definitely eating the caterpillars. He came across a batch of caterpillars happily munching away in a tree. He returned a week later to find not a single caterpillar around, not even a trace of the cocoons.

Images - caterpillars in tree, top and pupae (JL), caterpillar (YKF) and moth (KC Tsang).

March 2007 was a busy period for the male Baya Weavers (Ploceus philippinus). This was the beginning of the breeding season and they were all busy building their nests. Nests are normally in colonies, attached to the twigs of trees that grow in overgrown undergrowth.

The birds had been building for the last week or so and the nests were at the helmet stage (above: bottom images). They flew in and out, bringing strands of grass and tirelessly weaved them into the incomplete nests (above: top images). Some nests were brown, probably having been completed earlier. Others were green, freshly completed. Yet others had green strands on the surface, indicating that they were being repaired.

The birds got excited at times, chattering noisily. Once in a while one would fly to it’s neighbour and pick a fight. But such fights never lasted long as the birds soon went back to work.

Whenever a female appeared, all the males around became excited. They flew from the nest they were working with to be near the female, chattering and fluttering their wings rapidly.

Once the female flew off, the males returned to work. The images below show the males working tirelessly on the helmet-stage nests while that on the extreme right shows the female inspecting the completed nest.

Then tragedy struck. Within days most of the nests were harvested by poachers. These would probably be sold as garden ornaments. However, there were a few nests that were spared. Nests that the poachers did not dare take. These nests were built near to the hornets’ nest and this probably saved the nesting birds.

Well, the hornets did serve a purpose after all (below).

“Gillie” commented on 16th September 2007 after reading the post on the hornets’ nest: “On a bush walk today we were moving a fallen branch that shook the hornet’s nest (unbeknownst to us) and then I heard this buzzing like a humming bird. Next thing a hornet hit my head and stung me on the top of the head in one swoop. It flew off then came back for another swoop at my hiking partner. He didnt get stung - luckily for him.

“Its now 9hrs since the sting and it still hurts like hell. These guys are aggressive and their sting ain’t fun. Its not super painful, but it just doesn’t stop. It hurts now just as much as it did when I got hit.

“OUCH!

“Steer clear of these nests at all costs!”

Poachers are aware of what hornets can do, but how about birders?

Images by Chan Yoke Meng (top panel: top right; bottom panel and hornets’ nest) and Johnny (rest).