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.

Spidethunters, as the name implies, is supposed to feed on spiders. However, there has been “no record of web-robbing” (Wells, 2007) as its animal diet is not known.

Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman managed to photograph a Spectacled Spiderhunter (Arachnothera flavigaster) hovering in front of a bunch of banana flowers collecting nectar from the flowers.

As Dr Redzian writes, “This picture describes very well why Malays call it ‘Kelicap Jantung’ meaning bird that feeds on ‘jantung pisang’ (banana heart).”

It is well known that this spiderhunter feeds on nectar from flowers of banana (Musa), coconut (Cocos nucifera), African tulip (Spathodea campanulata), durian (Durio zibethinus) and Jacaranda filicifolia. What is not known is its animal food.

Reference:
Wells, D.R. (2007). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London.

bklim photographed an adult White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) showing its brilliant colourful plumage – dark chestnut, blue and white. In addition, it has a red bill, dark brown iris, red orbital skin and legs. The female may have a slightly paler head and belly while the juvenile’s plumage is slightly duller. Whatever the sex or age, the bird is a spectacular specimen, guaranteed to impress anyone.

There is a popular misconception that the brilliance of the kingfishers’ colours is dependent on the angle of light, a result of iridescence. But iridescence does not come into play here, nor are the colours a direct result of the pigments.

What are responsible are the microscopic structures of the feather.

The mature feather covering is made up of a hard protein sheath of keratin. Just below this sheath is a layer of keratin cells filled with tiny pockets of air. As white light strikes the feather, the short wavelengths are scattered by the air pockets. As shades of blue (blue, indigo and violet) have the shortest wavelengths, they are scattered the most and in all direction. Thus we see the blue from any angle.

Just below the layer of cells containing the light scattering air pockets are melanin, pigments that absorb most of the longer wavelengths of light. This creates a dark background, thus intensifying the blue we see.

Other non-iridescent colours besides blue are also produced structurally. When the light-scattering air pockets are a bit bigger (bigger than the wavelength of blue light), the result is green (since blue is no longer scattered, and green wavelengths are now scattered the most), as in some parrots.

With even larger air pockets, no wavelengths are scattered, but all are reflected, producing white light and thus plumage that we perceive as white; white does not exist as a pigment in birds.

All images by bklim.

Reference:
Clark, G. A. Jr. (2004). [‘Form and function: The external bird.’]. Pp. 3.1-3.70 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.

Meibao was taking a stroll in the Singapore Botanical Gardens one day in June 2008 when…

“I came across what seemed to be a stranded Yellow-vented Bulbul chick (Pycnonotus goiavier)… I only noticed it as its parent was trying to feed the chick which was on the ground and was chirping loudly to warn me to stay away… (left).

“There was a family a few feet away… having a picnic and their dog (on lease) was trying to get to the chick though they didn’t notice.

“I ended up not daring to touch the chick as I have read somewhere chicks may get abandoned by the parent if human scent is left on chick.

“Now, I keep thinking should I have tried to rescue it or at least place it on a branch or something so it would have been safer.

“What would be the correct thing to do?”

It is an old wife’s tale that once we handle a young chick, the parent birds would abandon it. Yes, it would be helpful if the chick was placed somewhere safe from the dog… not that the dog would get at it, considering that it was on a lease.

Should we “rescue” a helpless chick and bring it home to look after it? Check out our earlier post HERE.

“The red, iron bird engaged its landing gears, sending her wheelie feet to hang. Her wings retracted leaving reminges of the ‘bird’ flapping in the wind as the aircraft was guided to a descent onto the airfield tarmac.

“A ‘boomp’ followed, confirming a touch down. My constant travels have taught me well to judge the skills and experience of pilots by how smooth and soft the ‘boomp’ they made. Sometimes, I would whisper into the air-hostess’s ear, turning dimpled smiles into laughters as I made to the exit doorway. I knew only too well my soft whispers would eventually get to the Captain’s ears.

“‘G-DAY! Welcome to the sunshine state of Australia-Queensland’.

“Peering through the glass-cabin hole, I thought it was strange there wasn’t a feathered bird in the airport vicinity to greet me.

“It was later brought to my knowledge that Coolangatta airport authorities actually have field marshals to skirt-drive around the airfield to hoot off birds that fly too near their iron cousins for comfort!

“It has been known that birds do get sucked into propellers, causing kamikaze bird deaths, bad accidents and expensive repairs and maintenance.

“Have I arrived at the other end of the rainbow? Yes!

“It wasn’t long into my birding session that a small party of gregarious Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) appeared and made a bee-line for the native blooms of Queensland Umbrella trees Schefflera actinophylla.

“What resulted was a circus like display of acrobatic skills these musical screechers so well known for, as they trapezed amongst sprays of colourful, red flowers amongst spoke-like umbrella stems of their foliages. | Image 1, 2, 3 4|.

“They wasted no time to dig in and relished the blooms, buds, seeds, nectar and all, pollinating along the way as they carried their hooked pollen-dusted beaks to the next fresh floral sprays. |Image 5, 6|

“The eastern seaboard area, skirting from Cape York to right down South Australia like a crescent, is prolific with this moluccanus race species identified by their greenish yellow collars.

“Rainforests, woodlands, eucalypt forests, open forests, gardens, heaths and urban areas with trees are their favourite areas of habitat. While there are 3 more subspecies or race to contend with, those of the rubritorquis variation in northern part of the Australian continent have red collars.

“In certain field guide books, it is categorised as a separate species called, Red-collared Lorikeet (Trichoglossus rubritorquatus.).

“Surprisingly, all races are vagrants to Tasmania… Not distant flyers?

“Rainbow Lorikeets are mainly frugivores. They have brush like tongues to lap up nectar and pollens. Blossoms, seeds and also berries are their favourites and Australia’s native Bottlebrush species, especially the red Callistemon citrinus is one of their favourite raiding haunts whom they share with their Scaly Breasted Lorikeet (Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus) cousins. |Image 7|

“One can only imagine during the fruit and flowering seasons, how noisy these birds do get and non-birders detesting them for being deprived of peace and quiet…

“However, despite their continuous screeching and chattering, these gregarious birds continued to be treated fondly by residents and bird lovers with generous food handouts in their garden homes.

“Conservationists would say that it is never proper to be feeding wild birds especially with processed foods for fear of overly food dependence. It is also unknowingly introducing bacteria via feeders’ hands and contaminated food itself.
However having said that, some hardy species especially the urban dwellers have showed no adverse effects to such and have multiplied instead.

“So too the ugly word , ecotourism that hangs on the other end of the balancing scale to balance the upkeep of Nature Parks and Wild Bird Sanctuaries with tourist dollars.

“A little commercial corner is not uncommonly set aside these days for tourists to feed birds especially lorikeets. It is a compromised situation hopefully under controlled conditions and everyone goes home happy.

“How could any person ignore such a colourful bird of rainbow colours? While many residents would see just a colourful bird zoomed passed, how many would actually get close enough to admire the mosaic of plumage, this species presents to live up it’s name or be models to the likes of Vincent Van Gogh?

“I was taught memory pegs during school days to remember the colours and reciting them in correct sequence order, counting from the outer bow inwards. The ‘ROYAL OF YORK GAINS BATTLE IN VAIN’.

“Readers taking the first alphabet of each word to represent the colours would get - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. See if you can seek out the 7 splendours of the ubiquitous Rainbow Lorikeet attached. Image 8

“Join me to enjoy some quality birds of the sunshine state in the next few articles and why Australians and emigrants simply love it there despite the presence of a hole in the depleted ozone, layered sky above.”

AVIAN WRITER DAISY O’NEILL PENANG MALAYSIA
© CHASING RAINBOWS.