“On July 28th, 2009, while conducting a bird survey at Pulau Tekong, I heard the insistent, begging calls of a young bird. Moving closer, I spotted a medium-sized, juvenile cuckoo hopping about the branches of trees at the edge of the wooded area. It was obviously a Cacomantis cuckoo of sorts.

“I managed a couple of poor shots as the cuckoo actively moved about. The lighting was rather bad due to the cloudy skies. It was obviously still being tended to but by whom? As I continued observing, the cuckoo moved into the denser part of the vegetation and its calling became more frantic. Through a gap, I was able to observe an adult Ashy Tailorbird Orthotomus ruficeps feeding the juvenile cuckoo.

“I remember seeing Common Ioras Aegithina tiphia feeding a juvenile Banded Bay Cuckoo Cacomantis sonneratii years ago and know others have also seen this. I know that a few others have also seen Pied Fantail Rhipidura javanica playing host to juvenile Rusty-breasted Cuckoo C. sepulcralis. [I don’t remember anyone observing a host for Plaintive Cuckoo C. merulinus in Singapore.] However, I do not recall anyone observing tailorbirds playing host to a parasitic cuckoo in Singapore. I decided to do some research.

“Wells (1999) mentions that for the Malay Peninsula, Common Iora is the only known host for Banded Bay Cuckoo outside closed forest and Dark-necked Tailorbird Orthotomus atrogularis and Yellow-bellied Prinia Prinia flaviventris are the only confirmed hosts for the Plaintive Cuckoo. He also states that there are no known confirmed hosts for the Rusty-breasted Cuckoo in the Malay Peninsula. [In the mid 1980s, I have observed an unidentified Cacomantis cuckoo being tended to by Golden-bellied Gerygone Gerygone sulphurea, at Pulau Tekong.]

“Robson (2008) lists the following hosts for each Cacomantis cuckoo, in South-East Asia.
1. Banded Bay Cuckoo – White-bellied Erpornis, minivets, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike and Common Iora; 2. Plaintive Cuckoo – tailorbirds, cisticolas, and prinias; 3. Rusty-breasted Cuckoo – Pied Fantail, Long-tailed Shrike, Olive-backed Sunbird, Pied Stonechat, Chestnut-naped Forktail, flycatchers and tailorbirds.

“Based on my poor cuckoo photos, I would lean toward it being a Rusty-breasted Cuckoo but am not entirely certain. I cannot recall reading or hearing about a tailorbird playing host to a parasitic cuckoo in Singapore. If this is true, then this may be the first local record.”

Subaraj Rajathurai
29th July 2009

References:
1. Robson, C., 2008. A field guide to the birds of South-east Asia. New Holland, London. 544 pp.
2. Wells, D.R., 1999. The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. I, Non-passerines. Academic Press, London. 648 pp.

Marcus Ng photographed a Brown-throated Sunbird (Anthreptes malacensis) picking on the small, sticky, black seeds of the blue mahang (Macaranga heynei). This is a fast-growing tree of open areas. The male and female flowers develop in different trees.

The Brown-throated Sunbird favourite food is nectar from a wide range of flowers. It also takes fruits like mistletoe, seeds of Dillenia suffruticosa and insects and spiders.

Thanks to Angie Ng for identifying the plant and Prof Hugh Tan for confirming it.

Lim Poh Bee recorded a Cream-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus simplex) eating fruits of Syzygium polyanthum or buah salam (above). This is a commonly planted tree along our roads, an excellent bird tree. When in fruits, you can find hordes of noisy birds attracted to the tree gorging on the sweetish, small fruits.

“It seems to have no problems in swallowing the fruit whole. The second image (above right) shows the bulge of the fruit in its lower jaw just as it is about to swallow,” said Poh Bee.

Check out the earlier parts of the Blue-throated Bee-eaters (Merops viridis) saga: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Micky Lim a.k.a. limmick has been “baby sitting” these four chicks since their rescue. And it has been a stressful time as they demand to be fed constantly. The cage also needs cleaning and its occupants their regular dry-cleaning.

Although the chicks ate heartily and growing well as seen in the increase in size and feather development, there was always the worry of imprinting. Can the chicks survive when released into the wild? Would they be able to forage in the absence of handouts of mealworms? Will they be able to recognise predators and avoid them? Normally, the adults would be around to teach the chicks once they fledge and leave the safety of the nest. The adults would still feed them but slowly get them to forage on their own. In this case they would be on their own. A bleak future indeed.

As seen in the above image, their state of growth varies. The oldest (below) has its wing and tail feathers nearly fully developed, although its throat and head feathers have yet to be fully unsheathed. However, the younger chicks are covered with pine feathers that have yet to begin unsheathing. They have much growing up to do.

Long term documentation of birds can result in emotional attachment to the extent that the photographers feel for their safety. Thus the decision to rescue the chicks when their nests were in danger of being obliterated. This was not interfering with nature. Rather, it was interfering with human activities that interfered with nature. Unfortunately, due to the rapidity of developmental activities, there was no choice but to dig the nests up, although a reprieve of a week or so may just see more chicks fledging naturally. There will definitely be controversies well after the dust have settled. But one significant factor emerged - the unanimous decision of the photographers who were then documenting the nesting to go ahead with the rescue.

For decades citizen scientists have been involved in documenting birds in Singapore (also, see “Watching Birdwatchers Watching Birds”). Since the early 2000s, bird photographers have been at the forefront of bird sightings and the study of bird behaviour. And this is the first occasion where citizen scientists got involved in a mass rescue of chicks in Singapore. Previously, a few concerned citizens may pick up a displaced chick in the misguided notion that hand-rearing it would contribute in its survival. This may not be so - see HERE. But mass rescue in the face of human activities? This is a first! And it speaks well for bird photographers.

Images by Micky 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.

The Wrinkled Hornbill (Aceros corrugatus) was sighted at the Panti forest in neighbouring Malaysian state of Johor in early July 2009. A number of photographers were there that morning and got of few images of the bird feasting on what look like nutmeg fruits (Myristica sp.).

These hornbills are capable of storing a large amount of fruits in their gular pouch. According to Kinnaird & O’Brien (2007), Asian hornbills can load up to over 260 figs at one time, equivalent to 20% of their body weight. Of course with nutmegs which are larger and heavier than figs, the number would be much less.

Besides figs, they take a wide variety of fruits and nutmeg is one of them. In the process, they help in the dispersal of the rainforest plants.

The nutmeg fruit splits into two when ripe to expose a large seed covered with a colourful aril. In the commercial nutmeg (M. fragrans), the aril goes to make the spice mace while the seed the nutmeg. It would be helpful of future photographers at Panti can bring back images of the ripened fruits for a positive identification.

Image by Calvin Chang a.k.a. deswitch.

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

Reference:
Kinnaird, M. F. & T. G. O’Brien, 2007. The ecology and conservation of Asian hornbills: Farmers of the forest. University of Chicago Press 315 pp.