Yvette Lim was at home one May 2008 morning when she heard a loud thud coming from her balcony window. There, on the floor, was a stunned female Laced Woodpecker (Picus vittatus). She sent in the image she took with a note:

“I consider it a real perk to have moved into a new home (well, not so new anymore!) where White-crested Laughingthrushs (Garrulax leucolophus), Tanimbar Corella (Cacatua goffini) and other (equally vocal or not) birds are a daily sight. We had one such visitor the other morning - the poor fellow smashed into our balcony glass door, and sat stunned and gawping for a good ten minutes before fleeing the scene.”

To find out the reasons why birds crash into buildings with glass panes, click HERE: 1, 2, 3 and 4.

NOTE: KC Tsang helped in the identification of the woodpecker.

Alvin a.k.a. epiphytophile, managed to photograph a pair of Silver-breasted Broadbill (Serilophus lunatus) busy building their nest in Malaysia in the latter part of Aril 2008.

The male is distinguished from the female by the absence of a distinct thin white necklace. The male above has in its bill a bunch of plant fibres, looking like palm fibres, for the nest he is halping to build. The female below has fibres (left) and leaves (right) for the nest.

The nest is built around a supporting branch and made up of mainly pieces of long plant fibres (below). Completed nests are usually camouflaged with bryophytes and other epiphytic plants. However, this nest here is still in the construction stage. Small green leaves or pieces of green leaves are added to the brood chamber lining during nest use. Wells (2007) reports that at incubation changeover, it is common to see the adults coming with a piece of leaf in his or her bill.

All images by Alvin a.k.a epiphytophile.

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.

A White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) was photographed by Joseph Yao swallowing a lizard nearly as long as itself. This, of course includes the lizard’s long tail.

The lizard was caught and brought back to the kingfisher’s perch where it was subdued by bashing it against the wooden billboard. The lizard was then grabbed by the head and with one flick of the bird’s head, was swallowed head-first.

The entire process of swallowing lasted only 90 seconds when only the end portion of the tail was still projecting out of the bill.

The food of this kingfisher includes insects, crustaceans, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and small mammals. In the above case, the lizard, from head to tail was slightly longer than the bird itself. It has not been observed how long the end of the tail disappeared into the bird but there have been cases where it may take some time for the head end to be digested before the tail end completely disappears into the bird.

All images by Joseph Yao.

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.

Black-naped Monarch (Hypothymis azurea) is a very attractive bird. The male is blue and white, with a dark blue breast-band and nuchal tuft (above left). The female is duller blue and without the breast-band and nuchal tuft (above right). The bird is a rare resident in Singapore and a relatively common resident in Malaysia. Most nesting records are from Malaysia and this one is from the 2007 nesting in Rengit, Johor.

The nest is wedged in the fork of a sapling. It is a deep compact cup built of plant fibres and grass leaves. The lower portion is embellished with mosses and liverworts as well as copious cobwebs and spider cocoon silk. Such silk strands do not stick the nesting materials together like sticky tapes. Rather, they act as Velcro “loops”, the tiny leaves of the mosses and liverworts provide the “hooks”. In this way, the nest actually make use of the Velcro principal (Hansell, 2007).

A full clutch of eggs is usually two, although three or even four have been reported. In this particular case there was only one chick in the nest.

Both adults help in incubating and brooding, although the female has been reported to be doing more of the work. The chick was seen being fed with insects (above), after which it turned around and offered its posterior to the adult (below). As soon as the white faecal sac appeared from the chick’s vent, the adult picked it. The male is seen here with the faecal sac that he will dispose of some distance away from the nest.

Reference:
Hansell, Mike (2007). Built by animals. Oxford University Press.

All images by Adrian Lim.

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.

The Great Egret (Casmerodius albus), also known as Great White Egret, is an impressive looking bird. Standing at 100 cm tall or more, it is one of the larger herons around. A common winter visitor, the bird can be seen all the year round around rivers, mangroves and such habitats.

To see one in action catching fish is a memorable sight indeed. Like most herons, the Great Egret is usually a passive hunter. Most times it takes a few slow steps in the shallow water, stands quietly and still, and waits for prey to approach.

In this case the heron was apparently on land. It made a sudden lunge, flapping its huge white wings to make the short flight into the water. It landed in the shallow water and immediately plunged at the fish. The long, sharp bill was deadly accurate, seizing the fish around the centre. The fish was then flipped to reposition it so that it could be swallowed head-first.

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.