April 2008 is when the Black-naped Terns (Sterna sumatrana) on the rocky islets off northern Singapore are actively breeding. Many eggs have already been hatched and young chicks are everywhere (above). This is the time when the adult birds are most protective of their chicks. This is also the time when they are extremely aggressive with intruders.

Lee Tiah Khee was at the scene when an adult Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) approached the colony. A large Grey Heron in the midst of their breeding colony poses much danger to eggs and chicks. Standing 90 cm or more tall, with a prominently long and pointed bill, it is a formidable intruder indeed. And although herons normally take fish mainly, they also take amphibians, crabs, mollusks, crustaceans, insects, snakes, rodents and birds - possible also bird eggs.

Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) has actually been reported to consume the eggs and chicks of terns and other birds (Martinez-Vilalta & Motis, 1992).

The tern that first noticed the heron set off the alarm and immediately attacked the intruder (above). Naturally the heron tried to defend itself, opening its bill wide and taking a threatening stance. But reinforcement arrived and more terns began mobbing the heron (below).

Black-naped Terns may be a third the size of the heron, but they are extremely agile in flight. Besides, they out-number the lone heron. And they are extremely aggressive during this stage of breeding. They put up a spirited defense, mobbing the intruder from all sides, swooping low one after another. And there was the constant shrill cries of the defenders that was enough to scare away most intruders. Terns are generally noisy birds and a colony of disturbed breeding terns can be extremely vocal and agitated indeed.

All these were too much for the intruding heron. In the end it left the colony, flying off, followed by the noisy terns (above).

References:
1. Martinez-Vilalta, A. & Motis, A. (1992). [‘Family Ardeidae (Herons)]. Pp. 376-429 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 1. Ostrich to ducks. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.
2. 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.

Choo Teik Ju was in Penang, Malaysia towards the end of March 2008 and was impressed by the rich bird life in the Mt Erskin Chinese Cemetery (above).

“The Mt Erskin Chinese Cemetery is near Tanjung Tokong, which is only 15 minutes drive from the city center of Georgetown. The cemetery has lots of bamboos and old trees and can be dated back to the Qing Dynasty Emperor 光緒 and the early days of Kuomintang (民國) era.

“The maturity of the environment and lack of human presence except recent “Qing Ming” festival, this place is almost without human. The other factor that this place could be a good place for birds is its hilly geographical nature, with also some streams running through the area.

“From such an experience, I think cemetery can potentially be an excellent place to be a bird sanctuary, as well as miniature wildlife reserve as I noticed droppings of civet cat as well, and the presence of assam fruit (Tamarindus indica) and ciku fruit (Maniklara zapota) on the floor may be a good indication of bat presence as well.”

Teik Ju’s list of birds from the cemetery, as shown in the images above (top row left to right; bottom row, left to right): White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) x3, Pacific Swallow (Hirundo tahitica), Chestnut-breasted Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus curvirostris) x3, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti) x4, Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) and Dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis). Other species sighted include Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradisus) x3, Pied Triller(?) (Lalage nigra) x3, Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) x4, Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus), Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata), Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) and Green Iora (Aegithina viridissima).

Since late February 2008, Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman has been contributing a total of six exciting accounts on bird behaviour that you can access HERE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. More are on the pipeline as he keeps on documenting the birds that visit his backyard. Yes, his backyard.

That’s him on the left with his two young sons and his photographic equipment. His able assistant is his elder son, Muhammad Firdaus, in a dark blue shirt. He started off in March 2007 with a pair of cheap binoculars scanning the night sky to look at stars. But bad weather and cloudy skies made him switch to watching birds instead. Now he has swapped his original bino with a William APO 8X42 with close focusing features. And of course his Digital SLR and accessories.

A doctor by profession, he runs his private clinic in the Malaysian town of Raub, in the state of Pahang. The state itself is an exciting place to bird watch. Within the state are a number of hill resorts like Fraser’s Hill and Cameron Highlands. This is also where Taman Negara, Malaysia’s National Park is sited. Birders from all over Malaysia as well as Singapore make regular pilgrimages to these areas, especially Fraser’s Hill.

Living in such a lush area, Dr. Redzlan, who blogs under the name Tabib, need not leave his backyard to find birds. In fact, the majority of his many images that he post in his blog come from his backyard (above). The dead tree in the background is where he photographed most of his birds. Actually, he spends about two hours each morning before work and two hours in the evening after work to study and photograph birds.

The flock of Blue-throated Bee-eaters (Merops viridis) (left top) and the Black-naped Orioles (Oriolus chinensis) (left bottom) are just two examples of the many species of birds that gather on the bare branches of this dead tree.

Many birders start off as twitchers, looking at birds, listing the species seen and seeking out more and more species to increase the list. If you can call Tabib a birder, then he is one rare birder who becomes a twitcher only after he got fascinated with bird behaviour. This is only because through the few years that he got involved with birds, so many species visited his backyard that he got to listing them. His current number is fast exceeding 40. The montage below showcases only a few of the species he encountered.

Living in a neighbourhood rich in bird life, he is priviledged to encounter his birds actively doing things – catching insects, courting, squabbling, nesting, etc. Other birders and photographers usually encounter birds that just perch, waiting to be photographed, thus the many portrait shots that we see in webpages.

I “discovered” Tabib some months ago when he linked one of his postings to BESG’s blog. When I visited his page, I was totally dazzled by the number and variety of images of birds and their behaviour. He was kind enough to allow me to repost some of his earlier images for a wider audience and the close relationship developed from there.

The Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius) breeds in southern Europe and northwest Africa and from central Asia to northern China and Malaysia.

In Peninsular Malaysia, the thrush, true to its name, breeds in limestone outcrops and according to Collar (2005), is has been observed recently to breed also in city buildings. Here, it is a resident as well as a migratory bird.

The birds that KC Tsang highlight here were photographed among the limestone hills around Kek Look Tong, an area known as Gunung Rapat in Ipoh, Perak. Such limestone habitat is where the bird builds its nest, a shallow cup or rough pad of grass, leaves and rootlets lined with soft grass, and sometimes also feathers and/or plant floss. The nest is placed under a rock overhang or in a cliff crevice.

The male is smoky blue with dark wings (top) while the female and immature have dark brown upperparts and paler brown and scaly underparts (above). The bird is omnivorous, taking insects and other arthropods on the ground as well as on the wing. It also eats snails, lizards and berries.

The male has a clear and rich melodious song.

Incidentally, the bird is Malta’s national bird.

Addendum: The Blue Rock Thrush has apparently been spotted a few time in Singapore. The first record was in 1991 when Richard Ollington photographed it in Tuas. There have been very few sightings since.

References:
1. Anon. (2006). Birds of Perak. Bird Group, Malaysian Nature Society, Perak Branch.
2. Collar, N. J.. (2005). Family Turdidae (Thrushes). Pp. 514-805 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D. A. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 10. Cucuoo-shrikes to Thrushes. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.
3. Wang, L.K. & Hails, C. J. (2007) An annotated checklist of birds of Singapore. Raffles Bull. Zool. Suppl. 15:1-179.
4. Wells, D.R. (2007). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London.

Not all birds take shelter once it rains. Not this Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) anyway. It perched on a branch shaded very lightly by the leaves of the curry bush (Myrraya koenigii). The droplets of rain fell on its plumage. The bird shook them off and fluffed its feathers.

It was obviously having a bath.

This went on for about four minutes and the bird moved from point to point. And all the time it was enjoying the rain.

Then the rain stopped and the bulbul moved to an exposed branch, stretched out fully and sang a few of its short-syllable song. It then flew off.

Bathing is one way of keeping the feathers in top form. Preening, anting, dust and sun bathing are other methods.