A White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) was documented by Wei Chun a.k.a. speedblade, catching a fish around Bukit Panjang (above). Apparently, the eagle was not very experienced in catching fish. Or was it a bad day for the bird?

This eagle is an opportunistic feeder, catching a wide range of mainly aquatic vertebrates, including reptiles, fish, birds and mammals. It also takes carrion, floating refuse and wastes in rubbish dumps.

It usually hunts from a high perch by the water. Once a prey is spotted, the bird zooms down and grabs it with one foot (above left). It may barely break the water surface but occasionally it may become totally or partially submerged, as in this case (above right).

The four powerful toes armed with strongly curved, sharp claws allow the bird to grasp prey, especially slippery fish. And it did grab the fish when it landed in the water (above). The under surface of the toes have folds and/or bumps to make it easy to grasp slippery prey, but somehow the fish slipped from the eagle’s grasp (above right) and fell into the water (below left).

Undeterred, the eagle tried again (above right). In fact it tried at least six times before it finally had the fish firmly in its talons, flying off to its perch to feast.

All images by Wei Chun.

This post is a cooperative effort between www.naturepixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

“When article ‘An Uncouth Avian Cowboy Comes to Town’ was posted last February (see HERE), I least expected my good fortune to again witnessed another act of copulation by a pair of uncouth Coppersmith Barbets (Megalaima haemacephala), Kama and Sutrajee, who seemed to love kamasutric performances in an open-air auditorium.

“The stage scene was by no means in a romantic perfumed garden or near any golden lotus ponds, but a far cry up on an old skeletal tree branch, across a brackish river for the world to see. The familiar calls of tok! tok! tok! like a working coppersmith sent my head turned, just in time to witness Kama flying in with a beakfull of berries to the awaiting Sutrajee.

“The stage was set for Act 1, Scene 1 of an early matinee side show.

“The two groups of images above and below are to be viewed from top-left clockwise - a sequence showing the art of Avian KamaSutra.

“Potentially, this is what an Avian Kamasutra’s erotic literature may read like - my excerpts written below to add another new dimension in avian writing.

“’Like an angel of the morning, Kama flew in, bearing gifts of berries for fair exchange of an equal number of sensual bonks. Disguised to look like macho Batman, baring his ribby chest, the rogue pumped his seeds of essence into Sutragee, sending her swooning in the warmth of his feathery wings, in ecstasy and screaming for more…. Ohh…. more! for those balmy berries.

In that split few seconds of sensual delight, the aura of warm, white light that surrounded Kama glowed …. only to disappear like magic. Having spent his seeds, they became strangers before the night went cold… …..’

“Mmmm… now cut the chase and back to the real.

“It was observed no berries were offered to Sutrajee until after copulation took place - a universal condition that Coppersmith Barbets seemed to have become known for their classical rogue behaviours.

“The 11cm Kama seemed to be able to count the number of berries offered. Images showed more than two berries. I stayed long enough to see the return of the Shylock for Act 2 Scene 1.

“It is also known to observe frugivorous females whose expectations fall short of what males could best deliver or be felt exploited for whatever reasons, would discreetly play foul and expel the sperms like a quick Chinese spit. To discard bad seeds so to speak (above)!

“The sulking of Sutrajee said it all (left). I would not dare to intervene in a lover’s quarrel.

“This is my 32nd contributed article and will be my last for this season of birds of Malaysia for now until after my vacation.

Pray well and let the iron bird flies me across oceans, chase rainbows and bring back stories of Aves from the Land of the Southern Cross to delight.

“Until then…”

Note: Most images were taken by digiscopy at long distance shots of no less than 60 feet away against a morning sky. While some are quite satisfactory to show, others had to be photo-shopped to death).

AVIAN WRITER DAISY O’NEILL PENANG MALAYSIA © AVIAN KAMA & SUTRAJEE

In late March, Johnny Wee encountered a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradisus) at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. He witnessed the bird catching a large forest cockroach (Pseudophoraspis nebulosa) (left).

The bird obviously caught the cockroach by the head, holding it firmly in its bill. It then tossed the insect into the air to swallow it head-first. As soon as it swallowed the insect, it spitted it out. Obviously there must be something unpleasant with the cockroach to force the drongo spit it out.

Prof Cheong Loong Fah confirmed the identification of the cockroach and added that some cockroaches are known to have chemical defenses.

Yes, certain cockroaches possess repellent chemicals that are foul-smelling, bad tasting, simply irritating or even have the ability to cause pain. Such chemicals are also known to be produced by some termites, earwigs, stick insects and beetles.

Several species of cockroach have been known to produce an anal secretion that quickly cripples worker ants that attack them. The adults of the subtropical cockroach Eurycotis floridana, emit a defensive chemical spray that can deter small mammals.

If this particular cockroach is inedible because of some reason or other, it is to be expected that this drongo would have learnt its lesson and avoid such cockroaches in future. Birds learn fast to avoid distasteful or inedible foods.

Drongos are insectivorous, feeding on beetles, large ants, termites, green bees, caterpillars, stick insects, grasshoppers, dragonflies and cicadas. The bird hunts by sallying from a lookout perch, to return to the same perch to eat its prey.

References:
1. O’Connell, T.J. & Reagla, N.Z. (2002). Is the chemical defense of Eurycotis floridana a deterrent to small mammal predators? Florida Scientist 65:245-249.
2. Smythies, B. E. (1999). Birds of Borneo. Kota Kinabalu: Natural History Pub. (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd. & The Sabah Society. 4th ed, revised by G. W. H. Davison.
3. Wells, D.R. (2007). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London.

Our earlier post on “Look, watch and listen” attracted the attention of a naturalist from McIntosh, Florida, US. Buford Pruitt (left) maintains the blog, Nature Adventures (below) and sent in the following comment to support our call for more studies on bird behaviour:

“…Just identifying and photographing birds is not enough (for me). In this day and age of appalling species extinction, the least we naturalists can do is to document the bahavior of birds. I try to do that with my own blog.

Buford gives as examples the following, and you need to read the original account to benefit from the fascinating stories, and adds. “I am sure there are many exciting bird behaviour out in the field for our birders to document…

“So, folks, please post more stories about bird behavior. We already know how pretty they are, and there are a zillion good photographers out there, so please let’s also post on how smart birds are! The gray parrot is not an isolated intelligent bird species!”

1. A woodpecker and its bait tomato is a fascinating account of how curiosity can lead to discovering why a Red-bellied Woodpecker drilled holes in tomatoes. Can you imagine that this was to lure tomato-sucking insects for its snacks?

2. The cormorant and the catfish is another observation on the use of a “tool” - in this case an oyster bed, by a Double-crested Cormorant to break off the three long and poisonous spines of a catfish it caught before swallowing it.

3. The owl, hawk, crows and coots at dusk on Orange Lake is about how one species affects the behaviour of others. The arrival of a Great Horned Owl just before dark makes the coots floating around the lake nervous. The coots congregate in small groups for mutual protection. The arrival of a pair of Bigmouth Hawks (actually, red-shouldered hawks Buteo lineatus), causes the coots further concern, so they congregate more. When the Fish Crows join in, the coots form tighter groups, so the original 50 flocks now become 20. Why not visit the site to find out what happen next?

Roger Deng was also around the rocky islets off the northern shore of mainland Singapore where breeding Black-naped Terns (Sterna sumatrana) were confronting an intruding Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) that April 2008 morning, posted earlier by Lee Tiah Khee.

It is well known that nesting birds, especially with young, will attack intruders. Smaller birds have been known to attack larger birds, including raptors. And terns are no exception. They mobbed the heron as soon as it flew near the colony. And despite the large size of the intruder, the terns were relentless in their mobbing.

There were other photographers as well, a number of whom posted impressive images of the confrontation on NaturePixel.org forum .

However, Roger was apparently the only one who managed to document something the others missed. He photographed the terns employing their secret weapon in their attempt at driving the heron away.

Look carefully at the image above. There are four terns mobbing the heron. Three of the terns have discharged a liquid-like substance, appearing in the image as three series of droplets, one of which landed on the heron’s head. Apparently, some birds like herons, gulls and vultures vomit unpleasant substances in self-defense (Podulka, 2004). But there is no mention of terns, so can this be the first record? This vomit, an oily mix of flesh and fluid that they regurgitate to feed their young, is reported to be foul-smelling. It is used to repel potential predators that approach their nests. The vomit may even be acidic, that can have an effect on the feathers and possible the eyes of the victim.

Can the liquid raining down on the herons be excrement? The action was too fast and the distance a little too far for Roger to confirm whether the liquid came from the anterior or the posterior end of the bird. But is there and instances of birds using excrement for defence?

The relentless attack finally forced the intruding heron to retreat (above).

Reference:
Podulka, S. (2004). Defense bahaviour. Pp. 6.52-6.56 in: Podulka, S., Rohrbaugh, R.W. Jr & Bonney, R. eds. Handbook of bird biology. Ithaca, NY: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

This post is a cooperative effort between www.naturepixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.