BESG’s Russian connection

Posted by BESG on 6 August 08, Wednesday
Contributed by Julia B. & Tatiana Petrova

Tatiana Petrova, an ornithologist from St Petersburg, Russia wrote to BESG’s forum earlier, posting images of a chick a friend in Singapore picked up near Bukit Gombak Mass Rapid Transit Station.

“I help people to raise picked nestlings of passerines and swifts. But about this bird, I was asked by one person who lives in Singapore. I’m not a specialist on Asian birds and it is a trouble for me to decide is it any starling or Turdidae bird to say how to feed it.”

Tatiana then connected BESG with a Julia B. who resides in Singapore. Julia wrote: “I found it near Bukit Gombak MRT, around Blk 346. The bird was sitting, when I came closer he wanted to run away, but can’t walk properly yet, so it was easy to catch him.

“I found him before going to work, and now it has been 1.5 days that he’s at home, and I’ve been feeding him with parrots baby mixture, that I had at home. He eats, but not very willingly. I’m sure he needs different food, but I’m not sure what kind of food. Today I add some egg into the mixture. He didn’t want to eat, so I had to force him.

“Now I start to worry about him a bit - he’s very quiet. He makes noise and moves only when I take him into hands. All other time he’s sitting quietly in a box. He never begs for food. Maybe he’s sick, but I can’t see any damages outside…

“Would be great if you could help me to identify what kind of bird it is.

We tentatively identified the chick as a starling but on closer examination both our bird specialists, R. Subaraj and KC Tsang, thought it could not be an Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis).

The above shows the effectiveness of BESG’s website in bird behaviour and its educational value worldwide. BESG’s global outreach is obvious - we got connected with the person rescuing the chick in Singapore via St Petersburg, Russia.

Julia subsequently informed that the chick died. If anyone can ID the chick, please let us know.

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