All the way from northern India, near to the foothills of the Himalayas, specifically Dehradun in Uttarakhand, comes a contribution from a young birder on the nesting of a fantail.

“A fantail-flycatcher pair has made its nest in the bamboo plants just 
opposite my house. It started building its nest on 28th February 2008 but as the nest is quite high in the tree and 
it is in private land, thus not possible for me to monitor the nest.


“On 12th March, the bird entered my backyard and perched on the 
wired fence. It was making graceful sallies after the flies and 
waltzing and pirouetting in the air, also looping-the-loop in the 
air.

“It returned to the fence each time it caught a fly.

“I was about 4-5 feet from the bird. But it did not 
seem to be perturbed by my presence. This could be because the chicks might be needing food in the nearby nest and in order to feed them, it had no choice but to catch flies, no matter if I was around.

“It flew back to the nest after every successful catch. It was a magnificent sight to see a bird
 looping in the air just in front of my eyes.”

Harshit further added, “Last year this bird made its nest in my house. So I have its nest photos with three eggs and also of the bird sitting on the nest (left).”

It seems that the bird is a White-throated Fantail (Rhipidura albicollis).

In March 2007, the appearance of a Javan Pond Heron (Ardeola speciosa) in Darwin, Australia, had Aussie twitchers in a flap. The bird was apparently blown in from Indonesia with Cyclone George and subsequently took up residency in the northern suburbs. News of its presence spread quickly and twitchers from all corners of Australia flew in for a glimpse.

This year, also in March, the Javan Pond Heron was sighted at Singapore’s Lorong Halus (left). As expected, the appearance of the heron had our local twitchers in a similar flap.

The bird was in its breeding plumage and this confirmed its identity without any dispute. In the absence of this plumage it is extremely difficult to differentiate it from the Chinese Pond Heron (Ardeola bacchus).

The Chinese Pond Heron, on the other hand, is an uncommon winter visitor and local birders are familiar with it (right). Not so the Javan, reported in Lim (1997) as a probable vagrant. However, its earlier occurrences have been challenged by Wang & Hails (2007) who believe that the status of the Javan was, at most, “uncertain”. The earlier sightings in breeding plumage, were photographed at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve in October 1994 and again in March 2003. Our field ornithologist Wang Luan Keng believes that these birds could be escapees from the zoo, which has some free-flying specimens.

For reasons unclear to us, the Javan Pond Heron was recently added to the checklist of birds produced by the Nature Society’s Bird Group Records Committee (see reference below). Now, if a species is a new record for the country, there should be proper documentation published somewhere. Birders would like to know whether the sighting in Sungei Buloh in 2003 convinced the Records Committee that the bird was a genuine wild species and the rationale for its acceptance. If not, was it a subsequent sighting? And by whom and when? Maybe I am not aware of such publication/s?

Pond herons that visited Singapore in the early years were always wearing their winter plumage, thus they were mostly assumed to be Chinese Pond Herons. However, some of the recent (post-1997) sightings were in their breeding plumage, thus making their identification as Javan Pond Herons more creditable. Apparently, more and more sightings of these birds in their breeding plumage have been reported during the recent years.

The probability of the Javan Pond Heron sighted at Lorng Halus being a wild bird is great, considering its location, away from the zoo and birdpark. The fact that there were clear images of the bird removes any doubt that it was a Javan. Images are now playing an important role in birding. For one, any reasonably good photographer can make an impact on new sightings, while in the past there would always be doubts until an experienced member of the Records Committee personally saw the bird.

It should also be noted that Lim’s field guide and checklist are popular publications for the lay birdwatchers, whose main interest is identification. On the other hand, the annotated checklist of Wang & Hails is a scientific document written for ornithologists and scientific-minded birders. The annotated checklist was peer reviewed and The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology where it was published is accepted by the scientific community as an international journal of repute.

Images by Lee Tiah Khee.

References:
1. Lim, Kim Seng (1997). Birds - An illustrated field guide to the birds of Singapore. Sun Tree, Singapore.
2. Lim, Kim Seng (2007). Pocket checklist of the birds of the Republic of Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore) Bird Group Records Committee.
3. Wang. L.K. & Hails, C. J. (2007). An annotated checklist of birds of Singapore. Raffles Bull. Zool. Suppl. 15:1-179.

On the evening of 23rd October 2007 I was attracted by the loud and high pitch cries of a sunbird in my backyard. The bird was firing off a series of chic-chic-chwee, chic-chic-chwee, chic-chic-chwee… The cries came in the direction of my curry-leaf tree (Murraya koenigii). Being a tiny bird, it took me some time to locate it. And locate it I did.

It was a male Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) and it was moving about the branches in a highly restless manner and calling loudly all the time (above left). I thought it was gleaning insects until I noticed another sunbird moving nearby. The other bird was also a male, but an Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis). It was following the Crimson, but silently (above right).

The Crimson came into view, perching on a branch nearby, calling all the time. The Olive-backed flew and landed nearby, less than half a metre away. It then flew off, fanned its tail and landed some distance away.

The Crimson noisily followed and so the pair moved to a palm nearby. All the while the Crimson was calling and the Olive-backed was silent. And they moved around for some time before disappearing.

What were they doing? A confrontation between the two male sunbirds of different species?

Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) eats a broad range of fruits. It also takes insects like grasshoppers, mantids, large caterpillars and hornet grubs. And of course bird nestlings.

Dr Redzlan Abdul Rahman documented the oriole manipulating the rolled up portions of banana (Musa) leaves that contain the caterpillars of the Banana Skipper (Erionota thrax).

The Banana Skipper is a large brown butterfly with large yellow spots on the forewings above. The adult is seldom seen but the presence of its caterpillars is made conspicuous by the rolled up portions of the banana leaves.

The butterfly lays its eggs singly on the leaves and when the egg hatches, the caterpillar rolls up the leaf from the tip along the mid-vein, feeding on one edge. The caterpillar develops within the roll, to pupate inside as well. When the adult butterfly emerges from the pupa it leaves the roll.

The Black-naped Oriole has become adept at manipulating the banana leaf roll in an effort to get at the caterpillar or pupa hidden inside. The bird lands on the leaf, garbs the roll with its feet to dislodge it. The roll is then brought to a nearby branch where it is expertly manipulated until the caterpillar or pupa inside is extracted.

The caterpillar or pupa inside the roll normally wriggles violently when disturbed and the bird needs to subdue it before eating. This is usually done by swiping the prey against the branch. Sometimes the caterpillar is passed back and forth between the bill to remove the stomach contents, as observed in the Chestnut-bellied Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus) and the Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris). However, whether the oriole did this was not observed.

An earlier account of a Black-naped Oriole manipulating a cocoon can be reached HERE.

Harshit Singhal is a young birder from India who sent in this account of his observation on 15th March 2008.

“I have kept a 3 inch deep bath tub on the ground just besides the 
guava tree (Psidium guajava) and birds such as fantail flycatcher, Jungle babbler (Turdoides striata), Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) have often been seen bathing in it.

“But on 10th March, an Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus) perched on the guava tree and then hesitantly moved to the top of the bath tub (left below)

“It appeared very vigilant and cautious and after making sure that there was no enemies 
nearby, it plunged into the water and took a fanatical bath. After 
flapping its wings four to five times, it flew to the nearby Chakotra tree (Citrus maxima) 
and started grooming its feathers.

“It was a fascinating sight for 
me as I have read in field guides that white-eyes are completely arboreal and do not descend on the ground.”

It may be arboreal but the bird needs a bath and it needs to come to the ground for it.

Image of white-eye by YC while that of basin with white-eye perching along the rim by Harshit.