“Tambun is a small town on the outskirts of Ipoh that has, in the past 10 years, been engulfed by the city. Now considered a suburban area with large properties and garden.

“Came across this sprawling Ficus benjamina that was fruiting extensively. Full of ‘common’ birds feeding together. There was some minor conflict, but generally enough food to keep everyone busy.

“I have grouped the birds seen over a two hour period into three groups as below:

“Birds seen feeding on Ficus benjamina ‘fruits’:
1. Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans): 4-6 (2-3 pairs) (above left).
2. Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis maculates): 10-12, 2-3 were juvenile feeding independently (above centre).
3. Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis strigata): a flock (more like a swarm) (above right).
4. Yellow Vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier analis): 6-8 (mostly adult pairs) (below left).
5. Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala indica): 4-5, 3 were juvenile feeding independently (below centre).
6. Lineated Barbet (Megalaima lineata hodgsoni): one pair.
7. Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius madoci) feeding on fallen ‘fruits’ – they forage on the ground and do not seem to pick ‘fruits’ off the tree.

“Birds suspected to feeding on Ficus benjamina ‘fruits’:
1. Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis tristis): one pair, seen checking out ‘fruits’ in tree, actual feeding not seen (above right).
2. Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica): one adult noted in tree but not seen feeding, flew off soon after I came.
3. Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata) – seen picking on old ‘fruits’ that had dropped on to the pavement below (below left).

“Birds using the Ficus benjamina ‘fruits’ feeding frenzy to get other animal prey:
1. Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia horizoptera) – one pair foraging for caterpillars (above centre).
2. Pied Triller (Lalage nigra striga) – one male foraging for animal prey (above right).”

[The above images show the Coppersmith Barbet's feeding behaviour - pecking off a piece from a fig and then taking the remainder between its mandibles to squash it before swallowing.]

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Tambun, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
16th May 2010

In July 2010, Janice Kuek posted her video of an adult pigeon feeding two juveniles that needed identification. Haniman Boniran responded, identifying the bird as Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans) – a female feeding two fledglings.

The breast of the adult has a dark pattern that makes the identification questionable. According to Haniman, “The pattern is likely water or some kind of fruit juice that had trickled down the throat while she was regurgitating the crop contents to the chicks. Another explanation would be she soaked her throat feathers in water and let the chicks drink from there. The access water then trickle down the throat causing a ‘streak’ patterning of the throat feather.”

As the video was taken in Yishun Avenue 6 (Northern), Singapore on 23rd June 2010 at about 6.30 pm, Haniman’s identification and explanation are acceptable.

The video shows how pigeons and doves feed their chicks and fledglings. The chicks and fledglings peck the adult’s bill to stimulate it to open its bill. Once opened, the chicks take turns forcing their bills into the mouth to receive crop milk. Crop milk or pigeon milk is a high protein substance secreted from the crop. Such a feeding strategy allows the adults to remain in and around the nest with the chicks almost 24 hours a day, thus protecting the chicks from possible predation. In the case of fledglings they receive regurgitated food instead of crop milk - as pointed out by Haniman in his comment below.

On 17th July 2010, only one Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) was in the garden. This was the original bird that has got used to me, allowing me to get to about 30 cm from it. Due to various reasons, I suspect that this bird is a female. Her mate is not as tame, as he will fly off when I approach. Only when both come together will he allow me to approach close. Both together will also approach me when I am sitting down under the porch reading.

This time around only the tame female Spotted Dove was around. She approached me from nowhere when I entered the garden and walked towards me when I was sitting down reading. In response, I scattered birdseeds for her a few times.

At around 6.03 pm she was still lingering around - the doves would by now have flown off to roost. I scattered some oat flakes and she happily fed on them. The bird then inflated her throat region, with the upper body becoming somewhat contorted and the head moving around. At the same time she made some swallowing actions as if she had difficulties swallowing. All the time the bill was tightly clamped and the throat feathers fluffed. After a few seconds, she returned to normal and started feeding again. This went on for another two more times, each time ending in normal feeding. The images above show her distended throat from the front and the back. Those below show the left and right sides.

This was a reaction to feeding the larger oat flakes as no such behaviour has been observed when it feeds on birdseeds.

According to Baptista, et al. (1997), doves indulge in gular fluttering, whereby the skin around the throat region flutters. This is a method of getting rid of excessive body heat. In gular fluttering the bill is opened wide. So the dove could not be indulging in gular fluttering as her bill was clamped tight.

For earlier posts, see “Related Posts” below.

Reference:
Baptista, L. F., P. W. Trail & H. M. Horblit, 1997. Family Columbidae (pigeons and doves). In: del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.), Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 4. Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. Pp. 60-245.

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS documented a pair of Spotted Doves (Streptopelia chinensis tigrina) building their nest near his home in Ipoh City, Perak, Malaysia on 1st May 2010.

The nest was built 4-5 metres up in a Chinese juniper (Juniperus chinensis) tree, well hidden inside the dense crown.

One of the adults would get the material from the ground below the tree. Instead of flying directly to the nesting site, it flew to a nearby electrical cable to check on the presence of potential predators (below left) before flying to the nest site (above). It passed on the material to its mate hidden among the foliage and immediately flew out of the site (below right), leaving its mate to continue with nest construction.

With most doves and pigeons, the male sources out the material while the female builds the nest. It is thus assumed that this is the case here as the sexes are not distinguishable from the plumage.

The Spotted Doves (Streptopelia chinensis) regularly came to my garden to feed as a pair. Their arrival would sometimes come after cooing. And in between feeding bouts one or the other would indulge in comfort behaviour. Only on 10th July 2010 did I notice affection between the pair. There was cooing before the pair flew down to the ground, with one bird continuing cooing with head bobbing. After some minutes picking up birdseeds, the pair suddenly faced each other and made bill contact. The act happened suddenly and lasted less than a second. The bill tips touched, pulled back and touched again. They then resumed feeding. A more prolonged act of affection happened later when the pair also indulged in allopreening. The presumed female preened the presumed male, both with eyes closed.

Sometimes the pair flew to the nearby tree and perched on separate branches after feeding, to subsequently come together on the same branch. There, they would touch bills, preen and preen each other.

On the afternoon of 22nd July, there was cooing with the pair perching on my neighbour’s house. The moment I entered the garden, both flew down and started touching bills. There were mutual rapid probing of bills, each session lasting a few seconds when the bill of one dove probed into the open bill of the other (above). Note that in the image below, the eyes are closed. Only after the ritual ended did the doves start feeding.

Can the above be courtship feeding?

Earlier parts can be accessed here: 1. Introduction, 2. Feeding behaviour; 3. Comfort behaviour; 4. Eyelids and 5. Family visit.