In my garden I only planted one tree, the exotic terap (Artocarpus odoratissimus). Some birds subsequently brought two umbrella trees (Schefflera actinophylla) that grew nearby. The crowns of the latter developed within the canopy of the terap.

Two butterfly plants, Bauhinia kockiana (below left) that grew along my fence and Bauhinia winitii introduced from Thailand (below middle), scrambled onto the terap tree. A white-stemmed button vine (Cissus hastate), again brought in by birds, grew and also scrambled all over the terap. I also grew a staghorn (Platycerium sp.) and pigeon orchid (Dendrobium cruminatum) on the trunk of the terap tree (below right).

So what have I? A mix of seven species, all growing together within and over the canopy of the terap tree, a seven-in-one tree, I call it (left).

Five of these are exotic species. Only the button vine and pigeon orchid are indigenous. What I need to do next is to introduce a strangling fig (Ficus sp.) and a mistletoe (Dendrophthoe pentandra, Macrosolen sp.) And maybe also a bird’s nest fern (Asplenium nidus).

Each species of plant has its very own complement of faunal species. Bringing the different plant species together increases the faunal biodiversity. Also, each plant has its own attraction for birds, be it in the flowers or fruits.

So I get a wide array of bird species visiting the terap tree… Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier), Banded Woodpecker (Picus miniaceus), Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea), Javan Mynas (Acridotheres javanicus) as well as Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) and Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker (Prionochilus percussus). When the white-stemmed button vine is in fruits, many birds visit to feast on them. These include Black-naped Oriole, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum), Yellow-vented Bulbul and Javan Myna.

Singapore’s Garden City tends to be lined with “neat” trees, each tree by itself with epiphytic and parasitic plants routinely removed. However, an exception has been made for the staghorn fern and pigeon orchid, but not for the strangling fig and mistletoes.

Allowing climbers, scramblers, strangling figs, epiphytes, semi-parasites, etc to proliferate together in one tree is good for the birds. We should try it in our parks, although it may look unruly along our roads.

On December 27th morning, I was at MacRitchie with a British couple, Peter and Rosalie. While watching birds, we observed a number of birds hawking at a termite hatch over trees at the golf course. Termite hatches are always exciting and this proved no different.

Traditional hawking species, such as Blue-tailed Bee-eaters (Merops philippinus), Dollarbirds (Eurystomus orientalis) and Greater Racket-tailed Drongos (Dicrurus paradisus), were joined by, less graceful, opportunist hawkers, such as Javan (Acridotheres javanicus) and Hill Mynas (Gracula religiosa), Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis), Asian Fairy-Bluebirds (Irena puella) and an Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus). Except for the cuckoo, which flew slowly around the hatch, the other opportunists repeatedly flew out, from branches in the closest trees, to snap up the juicy insects. This method follows that of drongos and flycatchers, and is often called sallying.

While observing this collection of birds enjoying their flying buffet, we also observed a pair of Common Flamebacks (Dinopium javanense) continually sallying out to hawk the termites. I have never seen woodpeckers engage in hawking insects and this was truly a treat for me. Woodpeckers have relatively short wings as they are not designed for this sort of foraging behaviour. Usually, they work trunks and branches of trees. So, seeing a pair of flamebacks sallying to and fro, from the trunk of a tree, to catch winged termites, was somewhat odd. Their “short” wings made them look out of place amidst the other birds engaging in aerial feeding.

It turns out that this hawking behaviour is not unheard of among flamebacks. David Wells, in his reference book “The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula” Volume One, mentions the following under Common Flameback (Foraging and Food) : “Also attracted to emerging alate termites, snapping them up during clumsy aerial sallies through the swarm, with frequent returns to a perch”.

I was pleased to have had the opportunity to observe this unusual foraging behaviour of the Common Flameback woodpecker.

Image by YC.

Photographed on 15th November 2008 at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Tan Gim Cheong shares his image of the Nordmann’s Greenshank (Tringa guttifer) catching a crab (above).

This greenshank, as posted earlier, rarely over-winters in Singapore but was spotted on the above date after 17 years.

Tan Kok Hui earlier mentioned that the bird feeds mainly on little reddish caught in shallow water. Well, here is an image of the bird actually catching a crab.

In October 2008, Mike Tan a.k.a. woof photographed a Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fluva) catching a crab.

This is the commonest winter visitor and passage migrant to Singapore. The population increases from October to November, after which it decreases sharply, to increase again in mid/late-January. January to March see the highest number for the year.

In early March the plover starts fattening up for its northward migration, feeding furiously on mudflats, prawn ponds as well as along rivers and marshes. The bird forages individually but form cohesive flocks when on the move. It eats molluscs, bivalves mainly, as well as insects, worms, crustaceans and spiders.

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References:
1. Wang, L.K. & C. J. Hails, 2007. An annotated checklist of birds of Singapore. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 15: 1-179.
2. Wells, D.R., 1999. The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. I, Non-passerines. Academic Press, London. 648 pp.
3. Wiersma, P. 1996. Family Charadriidae (Plovers): Species accounts. In: del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.), Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. Pp. 411-442.

Image by Mike Tan.

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.

Mark Chua had an exciting encounter with a flock of more than ten Pied Imperial Pigeons (Ducula bicolor) that descended on a palm tree in a garden in July 2008.

The palm appears to be a fan palm (Livistona sp.), whose ripe fruits are bright orange, each with a large seed. The pigeons obviously swallowed the fruits whole, the gizzard scraping off the flesh. And what about the seeds? My guess is that they would be regurgitated after a short while. Smaller seeds would pass through the gut to be ejected at the other end, but not large seeds.

The Pied Imperial Pigeon is a rare, non-breeding visitor to Singapore but a resident to Malaysia.

An earlier account of birds regurgitating seeds can be viewed HERE.

Images by Mark Chua.

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.