This is a continuation from the previous post… Raising Kings I.

The chicks continued to be food dependant on their parents in the first two weeks. When Zena gave the rattling ‘come and get it call’ with rations sandwiched in her beak, hungry chicks usually responded quite immediately. She made them fly and scurry along the tight wire to reach for their food. Feeding stopped when Zena received no more response. She swallowed the left over.

Zena, having gone slimmer would then partake of a late, deserving breakfast alone. See how soiled her beak showed after a tiresome morning of chick feeding? No different from human parents who had to attend to their school children’s needs (left top).

It was also observed that parents practiced selective feeding to ensure survival of their brood. At times, Zena would turn away an approaching, begging chick only to call to another or fly off to feed another (left bottom).

Consistent observations provided opportunities to differentiate behavioural patterns of each chick. I soon learnt to tell them apart from one another.

On the 7th day, while half the world slept or rested, Modesto was seen exercising and testing out her beak and figuring out how to use it like Mom and Dad (below: left, middle).

She put her skills to test, staring into the water for any edible movements that may have caught her eye but saw nothing except murky water. “How on earth did Mom see those juicy river snails?” she wondered (below right).

Modesto is recognised as the slimmer chick female with an attitude. She was observed to be facing away from the river frequently and preferring to stare into a grass sprouted river edge. On the 11th day, she made her first brave attempt to dive from the tight line for an insect- perhaps a grasshopper. She came up with a beakful of mud instead feeling fuzzed.

Allegro was making speedy progress on day eleven. He finally succeeded in fishing for a river snail but had yet to acquire the skill of keeping it in his beak. He cringed when he saw his precious catch dropped into the river (below: left, middle). Whenever food became available from parents, his response was indeed swift.

Piccolo, the last chick fledged was lagging behind in maturity and at times was observed to be still hiding under her roost. Zena had to fly in to feed him. Being the youngest, the apple of his father’s eye, protector Hector made a point to be all seeing and all hearing. He was quick to replenish an overdue feed to his favourite. The image above (right) shows Hector overlooking Piccolo.

A surprise observation was made when a fourth fledgling was sighted very briefly on only two occasions. The prodigal fledgling stayed only for a very short moment for roll call. I called him Prodigo. The fledgling was swift and flighty with highly sensitive, predatory instincts and he/she truely was born to be free and wild. I had neither photo opportunity nor a chance of a better glimpse of this fourth.

From day 12, the chicks were beginning to look smart with more changes seen to their feet, downy feathers turning darker and colour of pink breaking through grey beaks. White eye rings were fading away (above).

Images of Allegro and Piccolo on the 17th and 18th day showed the body language of the chicks. One was looking confident, the other- still unsure and timid of himself (below).

It became clear that it was increasing difficult to photograph family feeding times together as the chicks became more independent and scattered. Window period of stealing a glimpse of them during roll calls became shorter by the day. To be able to chance seeing them, I had to be at the feeding site by 7.30 am each day.

The last opportunity to observe and to photograph the avian family came on the 17th day. It was also observed the fledglings had learnt the skills of survival and self sustenance and soon to be known as juveniles. It was also the last time I was able to see the trio-Allegro, Piccolo and Modesto perched together (above).

A quiet moment saw Hector with two river snails- a goodbye, love package. He flew in and perched beside Piccolo. It was the 21st morning (right).

“Here Pico, this is the last time I can be feeding you. Here is one and the other is for the road”.

Piccolo never flew far and was seen in the following days alone on the feeding wire. He waited and waited but food never came. Zena would still be around somewhere and occasionally flew in to offer a treat now and then. It was hard to let go, hard to see her chick go hungry alone. Piccolo was simply… not quite ready. Hector watched with self restraint (below top).

One day, Piccolo was seen attempting to chase a small moth. He was weaving for his breakfast in the air. The moth was desperate to get away. So was hungry Piccolo for the moth. They both disappeared behind a bush in a rising cloud of moth dust.

D-day came on 31st day. Mom kept a little distant. It was time to see her last chick fly to independence. To fly he must for he was born to be free… (left bottom).

Hector, the White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) moved on and was seen no more. Both parents have done exceedingly well in successfully bringing up a fine brood to propagate their species.

Observation came to an official close on 1st March, 2008. It has taken two months of observations and time consuming effort in documenting Hector and Zena breeding and nurturing their young.

Committing my time to follow through to the finale with Hector and Zena, have been fulfilling moments. To be able to write about it, only serves to substantiate credibility to these photographic bird images, making them ever so worthwhile to dwell in the art of digiscoping birds in the wilderness.

Hector and Zena have both given me this privilege to be a window opener into their lives, to reach readers, share, understand and enjoy them in the wild from an armchair. I am grateful. All they ask in return is, “Please save my habitat and admire us from afar”.

I am glad I do not have a problem doing just that. The latter at least that is within my control……

(Most images had to be taken more than 50 feet away from a river bank by digiscopy method. While they are not really of photographic quality, they are just about satisfactory to substantiate this article. I hope readers have enjoyed them).

AVIAN WRITER DAISY O’NEILL PENANG MALAYSIA
© RAISING KINGS

Raising Kings is a sequential to Breeding Kings.

Join me in this 2nd part to witness Hector and Zena - the parental pair of White-throated Kingfishers (Halcyon smyrnensis), nurture their brood and let go. Maybe human beings may find a jewel or two in this documentation to admire our feathered descendants of mythological King Ceyx, enjoy the headaches and heartaches of bringing up children and learning the art of detachment.

Allegro - the oldest fledgling, endowed with downy feathered head, remained naively unperturbed by a harsh world around him (below left). Together with the rest of his siblings, he remained cutely and stoically perched on a horizontal branch across the small river on fledgling day. Occasionally, some were seen looking up at flying objects. It soon dawned on them, they too were expected to do the same.

Survivor skills were conducted by Hector on the 3rd morning (above right). Dad with shiny reddish-orange beak to match his feet gave a demonstration of one smart plunging glide along the water’s surface. He skimmed out a little fish, perched and swallowed the staple food whole.

Hector gave a serious, fatherly stare at Allegro as if to say, “Look son, this is how our ancestors first lived by our name-King of fishers and you gonna learn fast to live up by that name too.”

The fledglings gawked in disbelief. Nervous Piccolo nearly fell from his perch as he observed in dismay.

“Oh my goodness! Is this what I have to do? Oh no…!” exclaimed Piccolo.

Mother Nature had no mercy. In toughing up the fledglings, she sent two continuous nights of heavy rainfall. I was concerned and wondered how they fared under such circumstances.

I consoled myself and recalled an observation that, immediately after fledgling, they instinctively undertook to a preening ritual to waterproof themselves by stimulating their uropygial gland to secrete an oily fluid.

By late afternoon, the fledglings were found roosting on low perch under a fallen Poinciana tree canopy about 30 feet away. It became a favourite roosting spot for the fledgling trio-Allegro, Modesto and Piccolo (below left).

Predators oblivion to the chicks, were plentiful and a favourite breeding spot for lurking monitor lizards (above middle). Even a stray cat looked alert and well fed (above right).

The chicks have weathered the storm. The 4th day saw progressive growth and transformation of the fledglings. Yellow feet were beginning to show splashes of grey above and bright, yellow tipped bills receding into grey tones (below).

Growth provided more strength to their wings, flight of fledglings became more confident. Coaxed by parents, they began a flight of sixty feet further up stream, onto a feeding stage.

On this wired line, the feeding stage provided many interesting moments of observations. Parents roll called each dawn break with a descending, pre-breakfast wailing and rolling of ‘keeee… keee…’ sending chicks in for a head count.

I soon began to recognise the differences between mating calls, alarm calls and feeding calls.

Hector & Zena with a fledgling posed to show their differences for comparison (left top). Zena, the female parent appeared to be of slimmer built while Hector certainly looked macho and more rounded on the head.

The role of chick feeding was purely carried out by Zena. Hector supervised and kept a little distance away but never failed to fill in where needed. River snails were favourites. Zena would carry out a series of dives and whacked off shells against a branch during initial stages of feeding. She ensured each of her brood received sufficient rations (left below).

It was observed as from the 6th day, chicks were able to swallow river snails whole. Lizards, dragon flies were also added for diet variety to their daily 8am breakfast (above).

Breakfast was a busy time and the following opportunity images provided much food for though t- “A family that eats together, stays together (above, below)”

On this feeding line, the chicks were taught discipline, teamwork, sharpening predatory instincts, sharing, independence and most of all, survival skills. They had to learn to catch on the fly and fish for their meals. It was indeed crash course to be taken seriously or starve.

One of the images showed a pair of Eurasian Tree Sparrows Passer Montanus perched on the same line (left). The kingfishers learnt to share space and live in peaceful co-existence. To be continued…

(Most images had to be taken more than 50 feet away from a river bank by digiscopy method. While they are not really of photographic quality, they are just about satisfactory to substantiate this article. I hope readers have enjoyed them).

AVIAN WRITER DAISY O’NEILL PENANG MALAYSIA
© RAISING KINGS

When “Tale of the Stock-billed Kingfisher” was written in 2006, describing the mythological story of how kingfishers’ family of Halcyon derived their names from; how a Stork-billed Kingfisher (Halcyon capensis) swallowed a huge fish bigger than the bird’s head, I did not expect to bump into their cousin’s nesting grounds and write about it so soon in my love affair with birds.

The White-throated Kingfisher (H. smyrnensis) is just about the most frequently seen and photographed species of kingfishers in Peninsular Malaysia (left). Yet, these very intelligent species have made their nesting grounds inconspicuous, breeding their young so discreetly that few birders have the opportunity and good fortune to discover, to observe and to document them.

The first day of 2008 could not have been a better start when a breeding female spooked me, as she flew out from a hole just after 8am, to stretch her wings and to feed. Equally taken aback, she applied her emergency air-brakes, changed direction and flew off in aghast.

The female has blown her cover – her secret nesting cavity on the side of a river bund (right).

The incident set the precedence and confirmation of my earlier suspicion what those cavities were. Rat burrows, lizards’ haven probably but I was not to assume them to be belonging to kingfishers until seen to be believed.

Taking my pooch (on leash) for regular, short drives and walks in the mornings and evenings, provided quality time spent with a pet. Having an obedient trained canine bodyguard provided the bonus. Her disciplined temperament gave me the opportunity to observe male and female breeding behaviours of White-Throated Kingfishers over regular periods of time to justify the need to document my observations.

The Alpha male’s role was purely of sentry duties, always perching within eye-shot of the nesting site. The female spent most of her time incubating, protecting her eggs from approaching rodents and remained in burrowed cavity when night falls.

For two weeks into the month, I took casual walks around the area and made no effort to remain longer than necessary to attract the attention of passer-bys or alerted the sentry’s suspicion of my interest in his family’s assets.

On 17th January evening, female parent was first seen with grub. She flew into her nesting site confirming hatching of eggs. Photographing to document this first part article series was kept to the minimum. It was carried out discreetly and hastily from a distance without stressing parents or inconsiderately making my presence felt. The waiting of long periods for any thrill opportunity shots of chick feeding was not practiced.

I informed no one of the location of my findings. WHY? Am I being selfish?

It is human’s nature to be curious. Want to know what I was looking at with my binoculars, where is the nesting site, how MANY EGGS there are in the nest and “I WANT TO SEE! I WANT TO SEE!” syndrome etc….

Generally amongst birding circles of pals, if bird species is known to be quite rare or rare, hordes of birders and photographers having received wind of information, would descend onto the site to observe and to photograph these lifers (a birding term to mean first encounter with the species) to add to their checklist or gallery of computerized bird images. There are also the over zealous minority that would baby-sit, park themselves and gawk for hours at nesting sites.

Such overly presence of humans, unintentionally attract predators like monkeys, stray cats/dogs and ignorant children to eggs or nestlings.

The presence of careless or new excitable and or inexperienced bird observers/ photographers overstaying their period of observations unfortunately, do compromise incubation periods and feeding of hungry chicks, resulting in high probability of either parents abandoning their nests completely or chicks die from hunger.

When this happens, other rodents like centipedes, ants and maggots become undertakers/scavengers to their carcasses. Diehards and those who never learn from their mistakes are quick to blame these creepy crawlies and the four legers for chick deaths or their disappearances.

It is for this reason that I made myself a personal pledge, as an amateur bird- digiscoper, not to reveal active nesting sites however common the species may be to anyone. I also keep a cardinal rule for not posting out any nesting images before chicks fledged (fly off) in the name of preservation and conservation of bird species.

The welfare of birds comes first, not my birding articles or showing the prowess of action or creative photography shots. (I must also add that methods and scientific studies of specific rare birds/surveys carried out on field assignments by researchers differ completely, for which I am not qualified to elaborate).

My favourite readers, you will appreciate better to enjoy an arm chair ride with me and visualise, as I journey you to the site in writing to witness Hector and Zena - a pair of very experienced White-throated Kingfishers breed and bring up their young.

My observation of nesting barbets, I thought their vigilance was thorough enough with their 3-step approach, but this pair impressed me with their vigilante skills and patience beyond doubt.

Visualise yourself at a river bund with Poinciana and Albizia trees abound. A handsome male White-throated Kingfisher with chestnut-headed plumage, wearing what looked like a large, white frontal bib perched on a branch, giving out loud ‘all clear’ signal calls sounding a descending staccato like - ‘quick quick, quick!’.

Zena, his mate flew in and perched on the same Poinciana branch as Hector (left top). In her beak, a huge, lifeless lizard lay sandwiched and waiting to be breakfast fed to the chicks (left bottom).

Met with approval by Hector, Zena double checked that no one was looking took a quick swoop and disappeared into the cavity. I expected she would take some time to feed such a big catch to 2-3 day old chicks. I hid behind a tree out of their view, no less than 10 metres away but she surprised me by flying out in less than 1min.

“Chicks eating on their own already?”

There had been times I was spotted first by the sentry upon my arrival. He squawked alarm bells keeping Zena at bay. If I got spotted by Zena, who appeared to be the only chick-feeding parent, would wait it out patiently until I hurried out and disappeared in defeat. There was once, she decoyed me by swallowing her catch and flew off in opposite direction to her nest! I felt so guilty.

Chick feeding began after dawn and peaked between 8-9am. Lizards and river snails appeared to be their favourite diet (above). Evening feeds don’t stop until dusk.

20th January saw discarded shells and regurgitated pellets at the entrance of the nesting cavity (right). There were also white streaks of bird droppings running down the side wall. Obviously, Zena had good housekeeping skills. One can only imagine - the chicks’ capability of reversing their rear ends toward the cavity entrance and pooped discreetly.

This image reminded me of a China’s visit to their public latrines in the mid-nineties. Do the squat over a flowing drainage system, see the contents of your bladder and guts saying ‘goodbye’ and floating away from you!’ Lucky too, if one finds a half-door latrine at Xian, then.

31st January morning was a bit special. It was 0900hrs.There was an unusual air of calm and one of the parents was around - within view.

‘Why no feeding this morning?” I thought.

My attention was drawn to the ‘tok, tok’ calls of a pair of breeding Coppersmith Barbets (Megalaima haemacephala) about 10 metres away from the nesting site. I pursued the direction of the calls. What issued was a good 10mins of ‘orni-porny’ observation and digiscopy of an exuberant pair of the smallest species of barbets, a good 25metres away across the river, high up in the skeleton trees. That was gift of good manna from heaven for my next article write up.

When the show was over, I started walking back. A quick glance had my eyes glued on a kingfisher that was smaller than the usual. My scope said something else. At the receiving end of my 82 mm diameter field scope, a stoic looking White-Throated Kingfisher fledgling was seen perched on a low fallen branch across the river.

“Oh my goodness, the chick is out!”

The time was 0913 hrs. and my digital camera went, ‘click, click’ to capture my first shot of a fledgling male as he began extracting oil from his preening gland to preen himself (below left).

I named him, ‘Allegro’- the fast learner.

I scanned harder. Behind some branches, perched half-hidden was another chick. Two chicks (above right)!

This chick turned out to be the smallest. I named it, ‘Piccolo’.

The parents had coaxed them out of their nesting site when I wasn’t looking. Instinctively the fledglings headed 12 o’clock towards a water source.

I missed the grand finale exit. Perhaps, it was the design of their Grecian Gods - protector of all kingfishers living by the waters edge that their births into the world are not designed to be witnessed by eyes of Homo sapiens.

On the way out, I thought it was odd that the perch of one fledgling seemed higher. It turned out to be the 3rd fledging named, ‘Modesto’. This chick seemed fascinated by the flight of an over towering Pond Heron (Ardeola bacchus) taking off, sending a confused Modesto clinging for life and swaying with the branch.

The three fledglings appeared to be healthy as shown in the following image profiles (above). Their soft parts - being their beaks, eyes, featherless areas and feet and toes are worth looking at closely to compare their features with adult parents, as surprisingly they are not described in many bird guide books.

The beak is greyish black and yellow tipped to match with yellow feet and toes dashed with grey on the anterior aspect. Fledglings also have white eye rings with chest and breast splashed white and mottled. White supercillium (eyebrow) is also noted.

At 0936am, 31st January ‘08, a record of the emptied nest cavity site was photographed with tissue wrapper for size comparison (left).

The diameter of the nesting cavity is… readers’ guess.

Do join me again for the 2nd part article to enjoy the promise of many images, showing how Hector and Zena, descendants of King Ceyx, raised their brood and LET them go.

.
AVIAN WRITER DAISY O’NEILL PENANG MALAYSIA
© BREEDING KINGS

Four species of ‘Flamebacks’ are identified in SEA field guides to birds but only two resident species, Greater Flameback (Chrysocolaptes lucidus) and Common Flameback (Dinopium javanense) are found quite frequently in Malaysia’s open deciduous woodlands, secondary forests and mangrove areas.

Two pairs of male and female species are shown as follows (above and below: 1-4).

From nowhere, these two species of cavity nesters never fail to send birders’ heads turn by their dramatic entrances. Their loud, quick and metallic trilling calls, “tit-tit-tit tit-tit-tit…” that just simply could not be ignored.

Vocalising calls have been observed to be variant, louder in the Greater but slower than Common Flamebacks.

Abseiling in undulating flights, both insectivorous species display bark gleaning and wood pecking behaviours whilst clinging on to wood trunks, with their polydactilous toes that end in horned claws. In vertical positions, their black, stiff tail feathers act as brace over tree trunks while their chiselled bills banging at living and dead wood like the sound of distant drums, “tok tok tok tok tok”.

Plumage wise, the male of both species look similar at a quick glance. They wear a feathery black and white scaly under carriage, a feathery red skull cap and adorn golden coloured capes revealing their red backs. They truly look like their backs are in flames. Such befitting description of these two species, have given Flamebacks their rightful names instead of, ‘Goldenbacks’ as previously known.

The same question is often asked by novice birders in the field: “Which one is that-the Common or the Greater?”

Let’s take an armchair walk into the field, inviting readers to refresh or make better acquaintance with these fascinating and alluring Fu Manchus - their ubiquitous behaviours turning many nature lovers into an addictive hobby of bird watching.

With a decent pair of binoculars 8-10×42 (8-10 means magnification distance and 42mm is the diameter of the binocular lens) and standing about 50 feet away, three prominent indicators should view and will help identify the different species at which ever position a birder is looking at the bird.

The first pointer is directed at looking at a species whose rear is facing you. One can appreciate that the nape or the back of the neck is feathered white in the Greater Flameback (above: 5).

As compared to the Common Flameback, the bird’s nape is feathered black. The male bird looks like he is wearing a red skull cap, spotting a Manchurian black braided pig tail and cloaks in royal robe! (right: 6).

Second pointer goes to viewing the side face of the bird or viewing the bird from a side view or profile, will show that both species spot a black Fu Manchu’s moustache. This sub- moustachial stripe is situated below the black eye band and is curved downwards.

The Greater Flameback has a black sub-moustachial stripe that splits into two, forming a loop like an island and meeting up at the side of the neck. Whereas, the sub-moustachial stripe of the Common Flameback spots only one smart, black Fu Manchu stripe (below: 7-8).

The third pointer is directed at the toes of these arboreal birds. There are four toes seen on the Greater (below left: 9). That makes him my 4-toed woody pecker pal.

“How many toes can readers see on the foot of the Common Flameback Dinopium javanense?” (below right: 10).

“See the difference?”

There are more subtle differences between the two species which even high grade binoculars alone will find inadequate to seek out more details of birds. Seldom too will birds perch long and close enough for such intimate observations.

This is where a spotting scope with magnification x30 comes in handy to view forest birds. Mounting the scope on to a digital camera on a steady tripod will further enhance much rewarding results in appreciating the finer aspects of bird identification and accuracy.

The beauty is, digiscopers need not be near to birds to see and be seen nor need they be unduly stressed out by humans associated to be bird predators.

Let’s look again at the two female species of the Greater and Common Flamebacks- Image 3 & 4 to enjoy the difference. They do not wear any feathered red skulled caps. Instead, in both species their heads are black and white.

A closer look in digital photography shows one has white spots and the three toed Common Flameback has white streaks!’ This is not easily seen with the naked eye even with a pair of binoculars at distance.

While we are looking at the heads, it might interest readers to note that the beak’s length is equidistant to the head of the Greater while the beak of the Common is shorter. (Please compare Image 7 & 8).

Some field guides describe the colour of eyes to be, ‘pale’ or ‘yellow colour’ in the Greater and ‘dark brown’ or ‘chestnut’ in the Common. The eyes of the male Greater Flameback Chrysocolaptes lucidus in this Image 7, shows this species appearing to have golf balls with black dot stud in his eye sockets!

Sophisticated digital cameras equipments and latest technique in bird-digiscopy, an accidental discovery made only in the late 90’s have revolutionised the way birds are being observed and documented in the 21st. century.

It is indeed an exciting time to be viewing birds be it behind one’s own back yard or take on the iron bird and go off shore- to roads less travelled.

I hope you have enjoyed refreshing yourselves in reading the joys and excitement of bird watching- in the hope too of meeting up with one of these members of the Picidae family, sending readers’ hearts a quickening.

By Avian Writer Daisy O’Neill, Penang, Malaysia
© FLAMEBACKS DUO 2008

“Murder! Murder!” shouted Shazam, the black caterpillar, as she found herself waffled by a red, giant pair of beaks. She was carried along in a wild goose chase – by whom? She knew not.

I finally caught up with Cicero, the Short-tailed Green Magpie (Cissa thalassina). He was restless and prancing from fern fronds to branches of trees, trying to conceal his big catch and throwing cautious, side glances through his masquerading black, eye band onto a bird wave of Chestnut-capped Laughingthrushes (Garrulax mitratus) while cradling Shazam in his jaws.

“Put me down… put me down!” Shazam screamed.

Cicero was then seen swinging the poor sort dizzy as she came close to being piked onto a thorny bit of tree branch.

“Wait! Wait! I have good grub prospects for you. Hear me before you eat me for breakfast, ok?” Shazam was pleading and sweating away in anticipation of death by torture of a thousand cuts and swallowed whole.

The pirate of the cool, Bornean forest feathered in Yuletide colours decided to release his grip on Cicero onto a branch, leaving the victim dangling on the edge in a daze.

“Ouch! You sure hurt me bad….” Shazam complained looking a bit pitiful yet saucy.

“Now just what you think you are ranting about, my hairy one?” questioned Cicero. He rolled his big eyes at Shazam suspiciously, yet with a little bit of marshmallow look onto his ‘breakfast’. His brain was screaming, “I want my breakfast! I want my breakfast!”

Do you think Shazam, the witty, black caterpillar managed to talk her way out in saving herself from being eaten by Cicero, during this festive season of Christmas like the Fairy Tale story in Thousand and one Night?

Or was Cicero in not engaging the spirit of giving and forgiving, was preparing a gourmet of black caterpillar whilst looking for a high altar to sacrifice poor Shazam-a worm is just a worm?

Cicero’s encounter with Shazam was observed for half hour. They were seen an hour later. Cicero was still toying with Shazam in his beak.

The Short- tailed Green Magpie is like a cousin of the Common Green Magpie, with bold, raiding behaviours. Their large size of approximately 40 cm in length make these species intimidating to small passerines and their overall green plumages make excellent camouflages in forests of high altitudes.

Attached is an image of Common Green Magpie (Cissa chinensis) for comparison (right). Is he trying to meditate himself into invisibility?

Despite their gorgeous bright- red beaks and feet, it is difficult to spot Green Magpies even at close range when they remain still unless their calls give them away. Swift in their inspections and foraging movements, hopping in middle storeys of forests and occasionally on floor, make digiscoping such birds ever so challenging. Yet…observing their rogue behaviours are never dull moments.

This article is written catering specially to include junior readers above 10years of age for which several viewing names have come into mind.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU NIGEL NG, Senior and Junior readers!

AVIAN WRITER DAISY O’NEILL, PENANG, MALAYSIA.