Lim Poh Bee was at Pulau Ubin and send in this piece: “Not too long ago someone reported a Lesser Coucal (Centropus bengalensis) spreading itself out on a road sunning and drying itself. Well, I think this is the more usual way of it drying itself after a morning downpour. We were out at Ubin and we saw at least four of them all puffed up and preening themselves (above). Unfortunately, the flight shots weren’t that successful (below). But the sheer numbers of them in the open were a treat in itself.”

This is Irfan Choo’s second documentation a sand-plover preying on another type of polychaete worms. The plover was tentatively identified as Greater Sand-plover (Charadrius leschenaultii), although it may well be a Lesser Sand-plover (Charadrius mongolus). His earlier post can be viewed HERE.

The polychaete worm in this series of images was surprised when it emerged from its burrow, to be immediately picked by the plover. It was detected by a technique known as foot-trembling, seen in the above images. In the other series of images, the worm was literally pulled out of its burrow

The food of these plovers include beetles and other insects and their larvae, molluscs, polychaete worms and crustaceans.

The bird feeds along muddy and sandy interttidal areas, wading in the shallow water to forage.

A pair of Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti) was documented by Adrian Lim a.k.a. wmw998 in Penang, Malaysia recently. They were catching insects to feed their nestlings deep inside a burrow.

The image above shows the pair, of which one has a dragonfly in its bill. The image on the left shows one of the bee-eaters with a bee. Images of these birds with dragonflies are common. Not so with bees.

The young chicks need lots of protein during their growing phase and these insects help.

Images by Adrian Lim.

This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

Samson Tan documented a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) nesting high up a communication tower in March 2009. In the image on the left, the two adults can be seen perching on the left of the tower with the narrow platform where the nest is below.

The nest is a simple pile of twigs placed on the narrow platform. The eagles have been around this tower for a number of years and most times can be seen soaring above. Samson’s last visit on a bright sunny morning saw the eagles still around. One, probably the female, was near the nest, scanning the surroundings impatiently. The other, probably the male, was flying above. After about half an hour, the female suddenly moved to the nest. Then the male arrived to deliver a rat clutched tightly in his talons (below left).

Apparently there was a chick in the nest. One of the adults tore the rat into bits and fed the chick with the other standing by (below right).

Once feeding was completed, the adults flew off, circling the tower, ever vigilant. They then returned to the tower, perching on different levels above the nest (top). After about five minutes, one left to forage. This was probably the male, leaving the female to brood the chick.

This is a re-post of the account appearing in Manta’s Experience… on 14th March 2009. Thanks to Samson Tan for permission to share his observations with BESG and for use of his images.

Forest Ang was in Butterworth Town, Penang, Malaysia recently and sent in this account:

“Took these interesting “raiders” in Butterworth, Penang today. First, I saw a crow pecking on a sack on a lorry waiting for the traffic light to turn green (above). Note the traffic lights. Then I saw a pigeon or two partially hidden. And just as the traffic turned green, crows and pigeons started to fly off the lorry (below).

“Ha, ha, so the birds are robbing the grains (I presume) from the lorry. Very smart indeed. I think they have been doing this quite often judging by the pecking by the crow. They just knew which lorry to “rob”.

“That crow pecked to open a hole on the sack. As for the pigeons, I didn’t have any chance to see what they were doing.”

We have an earlier report of Mynas scavenging from trash trucks at the traffic light junction in Singapore…HERE.