Jason Cho’s image of the female Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) shows the bird with its tongue extended. This means that the sunbird can probe flowers whose length are longer than the bird’s bill, since the tongue extends beyond the tip of the bill.

The tongue of the male of this sunbird has been posted earlier. Generally, male sunbirds have a longer bill than that of the female. But no mention of whether the tongue of one sex is longer than that of the other. However, a longer bill means that male can harvest nectar from flowers of longer lengths. This also means that the different sexes can exploit different floral resources.

This sunbird, like all members of the Nectariniidae, harvests nectar by capillarity through its long tubular tongue. The tip ends in two helical tubes that are jagged on the inner edges. This allows for nectar to be taken into the bill by capillary action.

Image by Jason Cho.

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

Connie Khoo was at Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands doing some light birding in late August 2009. There, she chanced upon a large flock of more than a hundred cuckoo doves all roosting together in the early morning. For three consecutive mornings the cuckoo-doves were at the same site roosting. There were two species, Barred Cuckoo Dove (Macropygia unchall) (above left) and Little Cuckoo Dove (M. ruficeps) (above right).

Hidden under thick vegetation were two raptors - the Rufous-bellied Eagle (Hieraaetus kienerii) and Blyth’s Hawk Eagle (Spizaetus alboniger). Both raptors have a reputation of taking birds and they were eying the doves.

As soon as a raptor flew out of hiding, the huge flock of doves dispersed in a burst of flapping wings.

According to Connie, “David Wells mentioned that he never ever saw communal roosting by cuckoo doves, let alone two species roosting together. Seems there is no end to making new discoveries.”

All images by Connie Khoo.

A pair of Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) nested in my Song of India (Dracaena reflexa) tree without my knowing it. Only when I half-sawed one of the four major upright stems and it collapsed did the chicks cried out and two adults suddenly appeared and scolded me.

Well, I managed to prop up the stem to allow the chicks to be brooded by the adults and things went on well for the next day or so. Then the nest was predated, possibly by a resident squirrel. Of the two chicks that were about a few days old, one disappeared, probably taken away by the predator. The other was on the ground below, dead.

The two adults were protective of this dead chick. They brought food regularly to feed it. An adult brought a fruit of the MacArthur palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii). When there was no response from the dead chick, it left the fruit by its side. They also brought insects, eating them when they failed feed the chick. The adults even prodded the body in an effort to get a response (above).

This went on the whole morning with the adults giving out soft cries, calling to the chick. At least one adult was around all the time.

A Javan Myna (Acridotheres javanicus) approached the body and was vigorously chased away amidst loud cries by the adults. When a common treeshrew (Tupia glis) appeared and probed around the body, the two adults could only watch helplessly, scolding the animal until it left (above). According to R Subaraj, the treeshrew is a mainly insectivorous animal and was probably picking the ants on the body.

The full paper has just been published: Wee, Y. C., 2009. Observations on the behaviour of the yellow-vented bulbul, Pycnonotus goiavier (Scopoli) in two instances of failed nesting. Nature in Singapore 2: 347-352.

A PDF can be downloaded HERE [2009 #46]

Lim Jit Yin was alerted to a nesting pair of White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) in Singapore’s catchment forest recently. The adults were feeding their chicks a variety of foods that included centipede (above left), grasshopper (above centre) and ?cockroach (above right).

“…it was very interesting observing how careful the female bird was, hopping from branch to branch with the food over as long as 20 minutes before flying to the nesting hole (below). The male didn’t do much feeding but was heard nearby. After each feed, the female seemed to pick something (possible a faecal sac) from the nest and flew off with it.

“When intruders came near to the nest (squirrel, monkeys, other birds), both adults did a very odd click-click-clack call.

“The chick is at least a couple weeks old by now, any idea when it will fledge?” wrote Jit Yin.

Wells (2007) reports that there is no information on the incubation and fledging periods. However, in one case the brood left the nest 27 days after the laying of the last egg.

The White-rumped Shama is a rare resident, breeding mostly in the offshore islands. The mainland population is of mostly males, possibly escapees. Of late, there was a successful nesting and chances are that the species is making a slow comeback. However, these birds are still a target of poachers as it is a spectacular songster with a great variety of whistles and it has the ability to mimic other birds.

Reference:
Wells, D.R., 2007. The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London. 800 pp.

Dr Mithilesh Mishra a.k.a. birdingm was at Mount Kinabalu National Park in Sabah, Malaysia recently and brought back an image of a Short-tailed Green Magpie (Cissa thalassina jeffreyi). The bird had a cicada in its bill.

“Short-tailed Green Magpie has a rather harsh call; a reminder that they are passerine birds which belong to the crow family Corvidae. If you stay in Liwagu Suits chances are that you would see the bird right outside the building where they come to hunt for insects which flock around the lights right outside the building. Here is one enjoying the early morning breakfast of cicada.”

This magpie is found in the montane forest of Sabah.

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