Adrian Lim a.k.a wmw998 documented a pair of courting Blue-eared Barbet (Megalaima australis) in Malaysia sometime in May 2008

The female was perching on a branch of a tree doing nothing in particular. Suddenly there was a loud call, made by a male nearby. He had food in his bill but this did not prevent him from making “such sweet music” as described by Adrian (left). The male was puffing and blowing to expand his throat pouch. As the pouch expanded, it pushed aside the black feathers that make up the black upper breast band, exposing a smooth, rounded, black sac.

The female was attracted to the male’s display but waited for him to come close and make his courtship offering of food. Only then was there copulation. Each act of copulation was preceded by an offer and actual transference of a succulent fig to the female (below). No fig, no sex! *

This courtship feeding of fruits followed by copulation went on for a number of times, as is typical of barbets (below).

In the image below the male is covering the female with his wings in another act of copulation.

The courtship feeding of the Blue-eared appears different from that of the Coppersmith (M. haemacephala). Whereas the former offered one fig per act of copulation, the latter often got away with less number of fruit as compared with number of copulations - often getting away with two for the price of one. Such behaviour was confirmed by another observation where the Coppersmith managed to copulate with the female, to only release the fruit after and not before. And then he mounted her a second time without offering a second fruit. Two for the price of one!

During mating, singing by the pair is incessant and simultaneous, with head bobbling, side to side tail movement, all these in an aggressively looking manner (Short & Horne, 2002).

Adrian confirms the above with his statement about the male: “Blue-eared Barbet seems to make very loud noise most of the time, when it is not having a female or attracting a female… Normally, it sounds like ‘CHIOK CHIOK’, and it can be doing that for minutes at a time. I have a feeling that it is trying to make its presence known to other males. This is a ‘territorial behaviour’ perhaps!

“However, when it is courting a female, or trying to attract a female to a certain perch or tree, the noise is much gentler and softer, and totally different from the ‘CHIOK CHIOK’. I can’t describe the sound to you in words, but in both cases, you can see the black sac.”

There seems to be no mention of the prominent black throat pouch in the literature. As such, this can be a first record in the Blue-eared Barbet, or any barbet for that matter. Discussion of this throat pouch will be posted in the next few days. So stay tuned!

Addenda:
“I have to clarify here that the courtship is a process that is likely to continue for a few days at the least, between the pair. It is not a case of a male going out to have a ‘good time’, spotted a female and making a lot of noise to attract it! In my opinion, the birds had already ‘accepted’ each other, and so the offer of food was like feeding a young, nothing spectacular, no noise making at all, even when the ACT was over. The only time that the gentle sound was made was when the female bird flew off for reason such as disturbance by other birds or animals, and the male wanted to call it back to the same tree.” Adrian, 1st June 2008

*Adrian has written in to clarify that there were occasions when “…the male bird would feed the female continuously, and only once in a while, got on top of her, though still with the food held in the beak and about to offer her.” 4th June 2008.

Reference:
Short, L. L. & Horne, J. F. M. (2002). Family Capitonidae (Barbets). Pp. 140-219 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 7. Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.

All 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.

“When article ‘An Uncouth Avian Cowboy Comes to Town’ was posted last February (see HERE), I least expected my good fortune to again witnessed another act of copulation by a pair of uncouth Coppersmith Barbets (Megalaima haemacephala), Kama and Sutrajee, who seemed to love kamasutric performances in an open-air auditorium.

“The stage scene was by no means in a romantic perfumed garden or near any golden lotus ponds, but a far cry up on an old skeletal tree branch, across a brackish river for the world to see. The familiar calls of tok! tok! tok! like a working coppersmith sent my head turned, just in time to witness Kama flying in with a beakfull of berries to the awaiting Sutrajee.

“The stage was set for Act 1, Scene 1 of an early matinee side show.

“The two groups of images above and below are to be viewed from top-left clockwise - a sequence showing the art of Avian KamaSutra.

“Potentially, this is what an Avian Kamasutra’s erotic literature may read like - my excerpts written below to add another new dimension in avian writing.

“’Like an angel of the morning, Kama flew in, bearing gifts of berries for fair exchange of an equal number of sensual bonks. Disguised to look like macho Batman, baring his ribby chest, the rogue pumped his seeds of essence into Sutragee, sending her swooning in the warmth of his feathery wings, in ecstasy and screaming for more…. Ohh…. more! for those balmy berries.

In that split few seconds of sensual delight, the aura of warm, white light that surrounded Kama glowed …. only to disappear like magic. Having spent his seeds, they became strangers before the night went cold… …..’

“Mmmm… now cut the chase and back to the real.

“It was observed no berries were offered to Sutrajee until after copulation took place - a universal condition that Coppersmith Barbets seemed to have become known for their classical rogue behaviours.

“The 11cm Kama seemed to be able to count the number of berries offered. Images showed more than two berries. I stayed long enough to see the return of the Shylock for Act 2 Scene 1.

“It is also known to observe frugivorous females whose expectations fall short of what males could best deliver or be felt exploited for whatever reasons, would discreetly play foul and expel the sperms like a quick Chinese spit. To discard bad seeds so to speak (above)!

“The sulking of Sutrajee said it all (left). I would not dare to intervene in a lover’s quarrel.

“This is my 32nd contributed article and will be my last for this season of birds of Malaysia for now until after my vacation.

Pray well and let the iron bird flies me across oceans, chase rainbows and bring back stories of Aves from the Land of the Southern Cross to delight.

“Until then…”

Note: Most images were taken by digiscopy at long distance shots of no less than 60 feet away against a morning sky. While some are quite satisfactory to show, others had to be photo-shopped to death).

AVIAN WRITER DAISY O’NEILL PENANG MALAYSIA © AVIAN KAMA & SUTRAJEE

The Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) is a common resident of Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. However, come winter, the population is increased by the arrival of migratory birds from the north.

During the breeding season, the shrill, flute-like whistles of these birds fill the air as the males defend their territories as well as attract females. There may be occasional aerial chases as the birds zig-zag round trees, sometimes ending in midair grappling.

The arrival of a female bird will be aggressively courted by the males, with high-speed aerial chase through and above trees. The birds may be so close that the male may almost touch the tail of the female.

In the case of the Northern Oriole (Zcterus galbula), courtship display consists of the male bowing in front of the female with wings lowered and fanned tail somewhat cocked upwards. The female may respond by either ignoring the male, singing or chattering. She may even lean forward and quiver her wings and vocalise in response.

Have birders from Malaysia and Singapore published any articles on the courtship behaviour of our local species of oriole? Or made any observations? If so, can you please share?

Reference:
Edinger, B.B. (1988). Extra-pair courtship and copulation attempts in Northern Orioles. The Condor 90:546-54.

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Dr Redzian Abdul Rahman from Raub, Malaysia, observed and documented the courtship and mating behaviour of the Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala) that we are presenting below. Where he lives, there is a small grove of banana and papaya plants by a river and there are “lots of birds, such as Yellow-vented Bulbul, Mynas, Glosy Starling, Black-nape Oriole, etc., a full list of which is given in his blog.
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In the top image, the male flies in to perch near the female. He comes prepared with gifts and indulges in courtship feeding, a common ritual among many species of birds (above). The male in this case has a number of fruits in his gullet but he passes on only one to the female. Sometimes he may have to offer more than one, but not in this case. And at times the female may teasingly pass back the fruit to the male.

After courtship feeding comes copulation. With the next gift still in his bill, he carefully mounts her. With wings fluttering, he then maneuvers his tail so that his cloaca comes into contact with hers, a process that is termed the “cloacal kiss” (above). It is at this stage that sperms are transferred from the cloaca of the male to that of the female.

Immediately after the cloacal kiss, the male dismounts, the fruit still in his bill as the female has yet to eat his gift. Once she eats the fruit, he mounts her again, never offering her another gift (above). In a flash he completes his second cloacal kiss and flies off.

Immediately after the first pair completed their mating, another pair flew in and copulated (above). In this case the male did not even offer the fruit he had at the ready in his bill.

In the above image, note the everted cloacal opening of the female bird on the right, seen immediately after copulation. The male bird on the left still has his fruit in his bill, to be offered, no doubt, to his next partner.

Courtship activities may centre round the potential nesting cavity. The birds may indulge in a lot of singing, either simultaneous singing by the courting pair or duetting between males. Flight displays are common, with the male flying to perch besides the female, often with wings fluttering.

See an earlier account where the male barbet got three “bonks” for the price of two berries HERE.

Irfan Choo is sharing with us images he took of a pair of White-breasted Woodswallows (Artamus leucorynchus) mating high up on a horizontal cable perch in Selangor, Malaysia (left).

White-breasted Woodswallow is found in Southeast Asia and Australasia, but not in Singapore. This is a small, agile flyer, with large pointed wings, often soaring/gliding in the air. In flight it is easily recognised from its broad pointed wings and short tail, that gives it a triangular shape. The bluish bill and white underparts and underwings against a charcoal black head are diagnostic.

This is an insectivorous bird, catching insects on the wing.

A nomadic species, the bird often roosts in large flocks.

Its nest is a shallow, bowl-shaped structure made of roots, grasses and twigs, lined with fine grasses. This is built in a tree fork, hollow stump or even inside an abandoned nest of a Magpie-lark. Both sexes participate in nest building, incubation and looking after the chicks.

Images courtesy of Irfan Choo - www.irfanchoo.com