Connie Khoo SY and Lim Phaik Imm were in Bali in November 2007. While there, they made a side visit to Petulu, a small village well known for the thousands of herons arriving each evening to roost. During the day there were already more than 10,000 birds around and almost everywhere were loose feathers and faecal matters. The smell must be distinctive.

By evening the birds would arrive by the hundreds, then by the thousands. And before long all the trees in the village would turn white as the Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) settle on all available branches. The noise made by the birds can be deafening, reaching a crescendo before darkness descends when quiet returns.

Connie and Phiak Imm report: “At Petula Gunung Village, approximately 5km from Ubud, we were treated to a spectacular sight of thousands of birds arriving every afternoon. By 4 pm, thousands of Cattle Egret were around, resting and flying about. And just before dusk, they arrived in the hundreds to roost. We estimated that there were about 15,000 by 6 pm, a huge number! According to our bird guide Sumardi, there are usually about 20,000 every evening. The image above (left) shows two males in their first year breeding plumage. That on the right is a female.

“This rare phenomenon reminds us of Lake Temenggor when a big flock of hornbills were flying pass from upper Belum to lower Belum, heading towards the Thai border to roost for the night. What a spectacular sight!

“We re-visited the village the next evening and observed the nesting and courting behavior of these birds. It was not a problem watching them copulating because in every tree there would be one or two pairs busy mating.

“The birds were in their colourful breeding plumage. The male’s lore is deep purple and the bill is orange red (left top), whilst the female’s lore is beige or light yellowish and bill dark yellow (left bottom).

“Many of the egrets nest in the 5-8 metres, full bloomed pinkish frangiapani tree (Plumeria sp.). Some of the trees are growing close to the roof of the wooden terraced houses of the villagers.

“The villagers believe that these birds come with the blessing of God because during

the breeding season their plumage changed from white to very dark orange and golden. They believe that every year from September to December or so, the villagers are blessed with good health and luck. They thus revere the egrets and cause them no harm. They even pray to the birds. Amidst the colony of Cattle Egrets, we also noted one Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) and one Intermediate Egrets (Egretta intermedia) (right), both in full breeding plumage.

“Birdwatchers need to take precautions least the egrets’ poo land on their head. So a hat or cap is necessary.

“The day when we were there happened to be a holy day. All the women and children except man and boys, dressed in their colourful lacy transparent “kebaya” with “batik sarong” matching and walked to the temple to provide simple home made offerings, such as sticky rice and flowers to the Hindu Gods. The offerings were neatly arranged in colourful, hand-woven straw baskets of various sizes stacked on top of their heads (below). On this holy day, they believe that the deities and ancestral spirits descend from heaven to visit earth.

According to local legend, the herons appeared after one of the worst massacres of suspected communists in Indonesia. This was immediately after the downfall of Sukarno in 1965. Villagers believe that the white herons are the souls of the slaughtered Indonesians.

Input and images by Connie Khoo SY and Lim Phaik Imm.
.
.

On 21st December 2007 KC Tsang was birding with Wang Luan Keng at Tuas. This is KC’s report:

“…as I have not gone to that place for quite some time. The place was quite wet, or flooded up to about knee deep in some places, and it was after some heavy rain during the night (above). Knee high gumboots, or wellington boots are required for the exploration of such a terrain.

“Snipes, Savanna Nightjar (Caprimulgus affinis) and Red-wattled Lapwings (Vanellus indicus) are bountiful, however getting a picture of anyone of them is really difficult, and especially if one has to balance oneself in knee deep water, and undulating ground. Here is one Savanna that did not get away (left).

“Having enough of chasing birds for the morning, decided to return back to the car, and pack up for the morning. On the walk back I noticed that there were four eggs in a nest just above the water level. On closer inspection the nest was wet just beneath the eggs (below left).

“So without further-a-do, took some pictures of the eggs, and nest. The nest is hidden somewhere in just above the water (below right).

“Returned the next day to have a look at the nest, everything looks alright with the four eggs still on the nest.

“However on 28th December, two eggs went missing, so we came to the conclusion that a snake might have eaten them. So went about trying to see if we could find a co-operative Snipe who will pose for a portrait shot, no luck there.

“Our final visitation was on 6th January 2008, and to our dismay there were no eggs in the nest. On closer inspection we found them to have also been rolled (?) off the nest, four of them, one broken, and other three intact. So what most probably happened was the first two missing eggs were pushed out of the nest and left submerged under water. And the later two were also then pushed off the nest and left to drown in the water. By the time we came back the place had dried out and thus we were able to see all the eggs on the ground. So on placing them all back into the nest, flies came buzzing around the eggs, which is a bad sign.

“So could it be that the birds had noticed that the first two eggs had failed to develop and decided to remove them from the nest so that it will not affect the other two? The failure of the eggs to develop could also be the result of continuous daily heavy rains, which prevented the eggs developing as a result of insufficient warmth from the sun, or the nest could have been temporarily submerged because of the heavy rainfall, which subsequently killed the eggs.

“According to a knowledgeable birder, a very high percentage of nesting end up in failure.”

Wang Luan Keng has this to add: “KC made an interesting find. It’s unfortunate that the eggs did not hatch. They are really rotten and I have to master enough courage to blow out the contents.

“1. The eggs and clutch size matched the size and description of the Red-wattled Lapwing (above). See also Jonanthan Cheah’s photo (right). KC’s eggs have larger black blotches than Jon’s eggs but I think that is just variation.

“2. According to literature, the nest of the RW Lapwing is an unlined scrape in short grass, soil or sand. The nest Jonanthan found was like that - a scrape on the stoney ground. This is where I am a bit puzzled. The nest that KC found was unlined, formed by a clump of grass folded to form a slight platform, where the eggs sit. Rails and bittern typically do that but the eggs do not match the colours of bittern or rail eggs. I thought it might be common moorhen but the colours are also wrong. It is possible that the Tuas lapwings have adapted to using the grassy patch for nest or a slight possibility that that it is something else.

“3. Many reasons would have caused the failure of the eggs. We know it’s not a predator, which would have eaten the eggs instead of dropping them. KC’s idea that the nest got flooded and the eggs were washed away by the water is possible. Another possibility is that the parents are not experienced or disturbed by humans and somehow dropped the eggs.

“4. KC is right that a high percentage of nests fail in the tropics. Unfortunately, local birders do not follow up on individual nest and do not report nesting records regularly, especially if the nest failed. So we don’t have absolute data.“

Images by KC, except image of egg and chick by Dr Jonathan Cheah Weng Kwong.

Yong Ding Li, Singapore’s up-and-coming birder, encountered a Barred Eagle Owl (Bubo sumatranus) last night (18th January 2008) and sent in this report:

“Singapore’s mysterious Barred Eagle Owl which has been recorded by a handful of birders in the past two decades decides to show up last night at the Central Catchment Forest.

“As we were walking into the forest, the first major piece of clue was the resonant double note ‘hu‘ of slightly different pitch and tone, classic Barred Eagle Owl song. The first ‘hu‘ was longer and more penetrating than the second note and was given by a perched bird at estimated less than 50 metres distance. After vocalising twice, the bird silently flew across the canopy with the beams on it, confirming its identity. Birders visiting the Central Catchment Forest should keep a lookout for this enigmatic individual.

“And as if the night wasn’t enough, two hours after the owl was sighted, at 11.55 pm, a stunning Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang) appeared and clambered over a giant rattan to cross the canopy in full view for some 20 minutes allowing many minutes of live video footage to be captured and proving its continued existence on the mainland.”

The latest Annotated Checklist has this to say of the owl:

“Status - Very rare non-breeding visitor. Former resident, appears to be not rare in Singapore in the 1920s but it is certainly not so numerous as Ketupa (B & C, 1927). CITES II.

“Records – 1 collected on 1 Jun 1925 (RMBR). No further records until 1 was heard and seen at BTNR on Oct 1996. It was probably a stray from Johor and stayed until at least 4 Jul 1997 (OBC Bull. 25). 1, possibly the same one from BTNR was seen in NS on 28 Jan 1998 (OBC Bull. 27), 29 Jan 1998 and 15 Mar 1998 (SINAV 12-1) and again on 29 May 2001 (OBC Bull. 34).”

Image courtesy of Cheong Weng Chun.

Reference:
Wang. L.K. & Hails, C. J. (2007) An annotated checklist of birds of Singapore. Raffles Bull. Zool. Suppl. 15:1-179.

NOTE: Please note that our Nature Reserves are out of bounds at night. Prior permission from NParks is necessary to enter such areas after dark. For the information of readers, Ding Li and his collegues were there conducting research for the National University of Singapore and NUS and NParks have a memorandum of understanding on such studies.

Dr Chua Ee Kiam alerted birders to an injured Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) found in the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve in mid-October 2007. The lower jaw was torn and a piece of flesh was dangling from it.

On 23rd November 2007, KC Tsang encountered the injured heron and reported that the “plumage has turned out to be well developed and beautiful. However, he tends to be smaller in size compared to others and he tends to hide under plant cover in fear compared to his brothers up on the tree canopy displaying their breeding plumage.” The bird was still alive one month after first sighted.

Now, Meibao encountered the injured bird on 6th January 2008 (left), three months after it was first reported and writes: “…I managed to get a few shots of it yesterday morning at SBWR. It’s still alive and kicking, but took off after I tried to get nearer to get a close up shot.”

James Gan, a Senior Conservation Officer with the National Parks Board who is stationed in the reserve has this to say:

“The Purple Heron with a gap in its throat has been present in Sungei Buloh for several months. Many people including visitors and photographers have remarked and wondered how this individual ended up with such a distinguishing feature. Some have come up with theories. Others have wondered if it could survive in the wild wetlands. Yet others have wondered if humans should intervene to help this heron. This Purple Heron has needed no human help. It has shown itself to be a true survivor and possess the survival instinct to live and thrive in the wild. We are glad that the heron has chosen to make its home in Sungei Buloh. We hope to see it around the wetland for many more months and years.”

The bird has now shed its breeding plumage. Can photographers and birders please report back if the injured bird is sighted in the future.

Image top by KC and bottom by Meibao.

The chicks that hatch out of the eggs in a bird’s nest are commonly known as nestlings. When these nestlings are old enough and actually leave the nest, they are termed fledglings. At the time of fledging these young birds are just learning to fly. They easily fly downwards but flying back to the safety of their original perch is another matter. At this stage they are vulnerable to predators. After all, they have still to learn of the dangers posed by the various predators.

The presence of fledglings is easily located by their constant begging cries to be fed. The parent birds are always close by and are paying close attention to them. The parents feed the fledglings less and less with time so as to encourage them to fly and hunt for themselves.

Susan Wong of Malaysia shares with us her images of two fledglings that she observed and photographed in mid-2007. The Pied Triller (Lalage nigra) is seen stretching its wings while still in the nest (left top). The juvenal feathers are all fully formed and the young bird was preparing for its maiden flight. It would also be stretching its legs and flapping its wings, especially when a strong breeze blows through

The Javan Frogmouth (Batrachostomus javensis) nestling is seen with its male parent in the nest, also stretching its wing (left bottom). Like the triller, it will be fledging in a short while, probably a day or so.

Susan is indeed privileaged to have seen these two birds at their nest, and just before they fledged.