Jimmy Tan a.k.a. skylark was at the Panti Forest Reserve in Johor, Malaysia recently and caught sight of an adult male Scarlet-breasted Flowerpecker (Prionochilus thoracicus) eating a fig. He posted his images in NaturePixels and is sharing the above with us all.

Joseph Lai and Angie Ng identified the fig as brown-scurfy fig (Ficus consociata).

Figs are a favourite food with birds. The best known fig tree in Singapore is the waringin (Ficus benjamina) at the summit of Singapore’s Bukit Timah. And during every fruiting period for the past so many years, there would be myriads of birds attracted to it. This in turn attracted and will continue to attract, birdwatchers without fail: see HERE.

The only regret is that most of our birdwatchers are “listers” meaning they simply make a list of birds visiting the fig tree. And they do this year in and year out. These lists are conspicuous in their total absence of any critical assessment of the events. Details like how the different species of birds take the figs – whether they swallow them whole, take bites off the figs or squash them before eating - are simply ignored. Similarly, how the different species interact and behave around the figging tree do not interest birdwatchers: see HERE

Despite a challenge to birders to be more critical in their observations, made in October 2006, we have yet to see any bird behaviour reports on figging trees: see HERE.

Isn’t it time local birdwatchers do more than mere listing? Bird photographers are currently at the forefront of such observations. The above image by Jimmy should spur birdwatchers to break out of the 20-year stranglehold!

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.

Roger Moo a.k.a. cactus400D was in China around April 2008 when he visited Zhangjiajie in the province of Hunan, a popular tourist destination. Along the way, he stopped at a place called ‘Kingdom Village (Town of Fu Rong) - Wang Village’ and documented his most interesting encounter (above).

What he saw was some of the most beautiful local birds, pheasants mainly. But they were not in their natural habitat. Rather, they were prominently displayed in the front of the many shops along the main road (left). These shops were selling exotic meat for tourists, mainly local wildlife.

The most prominent birds displayed appeared to be the Golden Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus), also called Chinese Pheasant (below). These were hung with their full colourful plumage and long tail feathers dangling. The spectacularly beautiful male pheasant has a golden crest and rump, bright red body and exceedingly long and pointed tail feathers.

Also seen was the Lady Amherst’s Pheasant (C. amherstiae).

All images by Roger Moo.

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.

Tan Teo Seng brought me a nest of the Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) from his fruit farm in Kota Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia (left). The chicks had just fledged and he collected the nest that was built attached to the slender stems of his hibiscus bush (Hibsicus rosa-sinensis). The plant is less than a metre tall but very bushy, such that the birds built the nest near to the ground.

The nest is a typical cup-shaped structure that the Yellow-vented Bulbul builds: 11 cm diameter and 8 cm high. The nest cavity is of 6cm diameter. It sits on a bed of dried leaves held in place by the fern stems.

The nesting material is mainly the pliable branched stems of the Dragon’s Scale Fern (Pyrrosia piloselloides) (left). These stems make up the outer layer of the nest, the longest being 32 cm. They are also used to attach the nest to the three slender main stems of the hibiscus.

Inner to the fern stems are a layer of dried leaves, including grass and bamboo leaves. Plant fibres line the inside of the nest cup, with a few strands of slender, herb stems.

The nesting materials consist of: 22 dried leaves, of which 3 are of durian (Durio zibethinus); 83 pieces of fern stems (Pyrrosia piloselloides); 24 bamboo leaves; and 118 fibre strands.

In May 2008 Adrian Lim a.k.a. wmw998 photographed a Blue-winged Minla (Minla cyanouroptera) catching and eating a moth in the highland of Peninsular Malaysia. He wrote that these minlas “behave very much like Mountain Fulvettas in their eating habit, but they move faster and most of the time, are at a higher level. They are also seen more often in the open than the Fulvettas. These shots were taken early in the morning.”

The bird held the moth in its foot (top) and used its bill to bash as well as rub it against the branch to stun and get rid of most of the scales, if not the wings themselves, before swallowing it (above, below).

This shy forest babbler is little known. Wells (2007), who calls it Blue-winged Minla, gives its food as a variety of berries, stating that no animal food has been identified.

Collars & Robson (2007) place it as a Siva. They believe that it is markedly different vocally from Minla and there is no evidence for a close relationship – thus Blue-winged Siva (Minla cyanouroptera). The food is recorded as “Insects, berries and seeds.”

Adrian has obviously uncovered a new food record for this babbler – a moth.

References:
1. Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. (2007). Family Timaliidae (Babblers). Pp. 70-291 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chikadees. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.
2. Wells, D.R. (2007). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London.

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.

Bee-eaters are known to spend up to 10% of daylight hours in comfort behaviour of some kind or other (above). These are mainly aimed at keeping their plumage in top condition.

During rest, these birds can usually be seen going through some of their stretching activities. A common posture is the raising of both forewings above the back with the wrists nearly touching (below left).

The bird then stretches one wing at a time – downwards and backwards (above right). This spreads out the primary flight feathers and possibly air them. At the same time as it stretches a wing, it fans out the tail feathers, more towards the side of the stretching wing (below).

Stretching activities are often accompanied by a bout of active preening.

These activities are believed to help prepare muscles and stimulate blood circulation for subsequent activities. They may also have something to do with feather maintenance.

When indulged with other birds of the same species, such comfort behaviour plays an important role in group social activity.

Images from top to bottom: Blue-throated Bee-eater (Merops viridis) by Dr Jonathan Cheah Weng Kwong, Blue-tailed Bee-eaters (Merops philippinus) by YC and Blue-throated Bee-eater by Johnny Wee.

Reference:
Fry, C.H. (2001). Family Meropidae (Bee-eaters). Pp. 286-341 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. (2001). Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 6. Mousebirds to Hornbills. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.