An earlier post on the Chestnut-bellied Malkohas (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus) sunning provided the opportunity for us to examine closely the conditions of the wing feathers. We were surprised to see that more than a few feathers were in a bad condition. They were clearly worm out as compared to the other near-perfect feathers (see images below).

Feathers are dead structures. They become brittle with time and get physically damaged when in contact with the surroundings. They are also attacked by various ectoparasites like lice and mites. These parasites feed on the feathers as well as the skin.

Preening, besides keeping the feathers in top condition, helps to physically remove ectoparasites. Another method of parasite removal is anting. This can be active or passive. In the former the bird picks up the ants and place then on its feathers. Passive anting involves the bird lying on an ants’ nest to allow the ants to swarm over its body.

Water bathing, dust bathing and sunning are also methods of keeping the feathers in tip top conditions and to get rid of ectoparasites. Some birds have been reported to place fresh leaves in the nest, leaves that contain specific chemicals that can deter these parasites.

Feather maintenance helps to prolong the life of the feathers. They cannot put off damage indefinitely. So birds moult regularly, whereby damaged, broken or worn out feathers are replaced during the moulting cycle.

All images by KC Tsang.

The Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis) is a very familiar bird, found in nearly all habitats. The plumage of the adults can change from brilliant green to purple to black under bright sunlight. The bright red eyes are distinctive. Juveniles appear different. They have a creamy breast streaked with black and a dull, green-grey back.

The birds gather in flocks when feeding and in larger flocks when roosting.

The birds nest the year round, in a variety of cavities – in trees, eves of houses, even in the crowns of palms. A full clutch of eggs is three and often all three survive to fledge.

Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman made detailed documentation of the adults feeding the three fledglings from his home base in Raub, Pahang in Peninsular Malaysia.

It is always fascinating to observe such feeding. The two adults cannot satisfy the three fledglings all at the same time. At the most they can feed two at a time, leaving the third hungry and begging. However, as soon as a fledgling is fed, it will start begging all over again. Now how do the adults know which has been fed and which needs to be fed?

The colour of the inner lining of the fledgling’s mouth indicates whether it has just been fed or not - check it it out HERE.

Feeding of the three fledglings is a full time job for the two parents. The fledglings are always hungry and have huge appetites. Imagine, should one adult be predated, can the other cope?

The Changi boardwalk, particularly that section known as the Kelong Walk, has been attracting Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis) and Dollarbirds (Eurystomus orientalis) to nest at the top of the nibong (Oncosperma sp.) stems used in the construction of the boardwalk.

James Wong a.k.a. Jw73 documented the adults feeding the three chicks with insects and fruits (above).

When an adult arrived with food, the chicks naturally gaped wide. The image below shows two chicks gaping widely, begging to be fed. The gape of the chick on the left shows a huge opening brightly coloured red, lined with yellow oral flanges. The colour is supposed to act as “food targets” for the parent birds. Unlike the chick on the left, that on the right has a yellow oral cavity.

Now why the difference in colour?

Experiments by Kilner & Davies (1998) using nestlings of 31 species of birds under standardised lighting conditions showed that mouth colour signaled food need only among seed-regurgitating finches. Among these species, there was a ‘red flush’ at the onset of begging. The colour became redder with increasing food deprivation.

Asian Glossy Starling regularly regurgitates seeds and as such should fall under the above finding. Thus the darker colour of the chick on the left would send a signal to the adult to feed it, rather than the sibling with a lighter oral cavity.

Note also that the juvenile has a distinctly different plumage as the adult.

Reference:
Kilner, R. & Davies, N. B. (1998). Nestling mouth colour: ecological correlates of a begging signal. Animal behaviour 56 (3):705-712.

All images by James Wong.

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.

In May 2008, Steven a.k.a. sharkspin photographed an Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis) having a bath in a stream at Panti Forest Reserve, Johor, Malaysia (above). This reserve has been the Mecca of birders and photographers from Malaysia and neighbouring Singapore. The area is home to over 250 bird species, including several Sunda endemics and globally threatened species.

The Oriental Magpie Robin in this case was seen standing in the shallow water of the stream and vigorously ruffling its feathers (above). It also shook its wings and dipped its breast area into the water (below). Such actions allow droplets of water to get between the feathers and in the process, wash away dirt that collect on them.

After bathing, birds need to dry themselves immediately. Why? A wet bird may not be able to fly efficiently and thus can be quite helpless when confronted by a predator. Drying involves vigorously shaking itself to throw off the water droplets. The wings will also be shaken and flapped and the feathers fluffed.

After excess water droplets are got rid of, birds usually indulge in preening their feathers to keep them in perfect condition.

Bathing in streams and puddles is one of the ways birds maintain their feathers. Birds also bathe in the rain, on dew or water droplets collected on leaves after rain or from a hose during watering of the garden on a hot day. They also dust bathe.

Sunning is another method of feather maintenance, besides anting, although this latter method has not been properly observed locally.

All images by Steven a.k.a. sharkspin.

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.

Terry Kaan had an encounter with a Laced Woodpecker (Picus vittatus) at Kent Ridge Park in the afternoon of 8th May 2008.

“I was walking up the loop road leading from the pond (HortPark side) when I saw a pair of birds scrabbling around on the floor in the undergrowth leaf litter layer. At first I assumed from their behaviour that they were the White-crested Laughingthrushes (Garrulax leucolophus) that are resident in the park. They were about the same size, and like them seemed loathed to fly, hopping around and scrabbling on the ground, and seemed unafraid even when I went closer (no more than 5m or so).

“It was only then that I realized that they were not laughingthrushes. The light was poor, and my birding ID is horribly rusty, and I didn’t have any idea of what they were, so I took a couple of shots of one bird of the pair with my DSLR camera (above). It was only when I examined the photos that I realized that the bird was mostly green!

“In retrospect, I have seen P. vittatus before, but certainly never on the floor like this. I didn’t get a shot or a good look at the other of the pair, so I can’t tell whether it might have been another of the same species.”

The Laced Woodpecker is a common resident that can be found almost everywhere but not in forests. The male on the left, by Johnny Wee, has a red crown while the crown of the female, sighted by Terry, is black. It hunts singly or in pairs, both usually in close contact. The bird forages on the ground, probing among the leaf litter and even the soil. It also checks out tree trunks and branches as well as the bases of palm fronds, looking for insects and other invertebrates.

At about the same period, a female crashed into the glass door of a condominium unit in the Clementi area.