At around 1250 hours on the 23rd July 2008, there was a loud call in my garden that I traced to a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris). The birds were perching on the TV aerial on the roof of my neighbour’s house.

The male hornbill was calling on and off loudly with the female by his side (top left). The latter then preened the head of the former (top right) before joining in with a call of her own (below left).

The male then began preening himself, starting with his tail feathers and going on to his breast and then his wing feathers.

The female then joined in preening herself, starting with waxing her tail feathers with oil from the preen gland (top right).

After about five minutes, the female suddenly flew off followed by the male a few seconds later.

The Chestnut-bellied Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus) is basically an insectivore. Its food includes various insects like locusts, mantids, stick insects, leaf insects, crickets, grasshoppers, cicada and large hairy caterpillars (Payne, 1997). Occasionally, it takes frogs and agamid lizards or even small fruits and seeds (Wells, 199).

This image, provided by Chris Lee a.k.a. chrisli023 and photographed in August 2008, shows the malkoha with a katydid or long-horned grasshopper (F: Tettigoniidae) in its bill. This grasshopper is easily identified from its pair of long antennae or feelers, usually as long or longer than its body.

References:
1. Payne, R.B. (1997). Family Cuculidae (cucoos). Pp.508-607 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 4. Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.
2. Wells, D.R. (1999). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. I, Non-passerines. Academic Press, 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.

Dr CH Lee a.k.a. lchxian recounts his August 2008 encounter, with a pair of Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) confronting an Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) in Townsville, Australia:

“…Black-necked Stork is considered an endangered species in Australia. Also commonly called Jabiru in Australia, I think Jabiru should be reserved for Jabiru (Jabiru mycteria) in Mexico. Jabiru in Tupi-Guarani languages means “swollen neck”, the Black-neck Stork definitely does not have a swollen neck.

“As I was walking back towards the car, the female Black Necked Stork flew and landed near an Australian Pelican. She started to flap her wings and clack her bill. The pelican was all tensed up. The male Black-necked Stork flew over and joined his partner. I told myself, if there is going to be a fight for territory or fish, I am not going to miss it! I am a wildlife paparazzi.

“As the pair of Black-necked Storks stood around, the pelican looked stressed and ready for a fight.

“The pelican flew away, and the stork gave chase.

“Another birdwatcher who was there, thought that the pair of Black-necked Storks was doing a mating dance. To me, it looked more like the pair was hustling the pelican.

“An interesting encounter, seeing two heavy weight species interacting. Not sure if they were fighting for territory or were just messing around.”

Earlier accounts of Australian birds by lchxian can be viewed here: 1, 2.

Willis documented a nesting Bronzed Drongo (Dicrurus aeneus) in April 2006 brooding two chicks and is sharing the images with us (above).

Bronzed Drongo is a common resident in the Malay Peninsula. It was seen in Singapore decades ago but not any more. Loss of rainforest habitats would be the main reason.

The nest is an open cup precariously attached to a horizontal twig with fibres, vines, slender stems and roots that also make up the outer surface. There also appears to be traces of spider’s silk, unlike one nest reported in Wells (2007) where it is “solidly felted with cobwebs”.

A full clutch is usually two eggs, although there were instances of three and four.

All images by willis.

Reference:
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.

Barbets are a group of diverse and attractively coloured birds placed under the family Capitonidae. There are a total of 82 species, of which 25 are Asian. Malaysia is home to 14 species. Of these, Singapore used to have five species. Now only three: Coppersmith (Megalaima haemacephala) (above left), Lineated (M. lineata) (above right) and Red-crowned (M. rafflesii) (below left) are around. The other two, Brown (Calorhamphus fuliginosus) (below right) and Blue-eared (M. australis) have long disappeared from the scene.

Although colourful, these birds are surprisingly difficult to spot. In fact they are more often heard than seen. Their calls can be monotonous and ventriloqual, making it difficult to locate the bird.

The monotonous call of barbets is best represented by Coppersmith, often called “brain-fever” bird. It gives a series of “pook” notes incessantly. This sound is supposed to resemble the tapping of a coppersmith’s hammer.

All barbets excavate their own nesting cavities, some even their roosting cavities.

These are primarily fruit eaters, although they catch insects to feed their young. There are a few reports of barbets taking lizards, tree frogs, birds and their eggs. Our earlier posts document barbets taking a flowerpecker and a sparrow.

Photo credits: Coppersmith (Willis), Lineated (Mark Chua), Red-crowned (Johnny Wee) and Brown (Eric Tan).