“The Oriental Magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis) is a delightful song bird which could sing melodiously in loud, clear notes. It is listed as an uncommon resident in Singapore. However, I believe that their numbers are increasing as can be seen in the number of sightings and photos posted on various websites. I have seen at least two successful breeding pairs with juveniles and some individuals since the beginning of this year.

“A pair recently encountered was catching lizards, which were fed to their fledglings (left). Foraging on the ground beside a footpath, a female spotted a lizard on the vertical surface of a lamppost. The bird flew up. The lizard was alert and sensed that it was being predated. In a flurry, it went round the curve of the lamppost to escape from the bird. A short and furiously fast-paced chase followed. The lizard lost and ended up in the bird’s beak. The female landed on the ground and swung its beak forcefully, bashing the lizard on the ground. The female’s partner appeared to join it on the ground. The male just looked nonchalantly as the female dealt with the prey. The couple then flew past the footpath to land on higher ground beside a wall.

“Apparently, the lizard’s tail broke away from its body as the female adjusted the prey in its beak (above left). The male, which was behind the female, then moved in to pick up the tail (above right). Subsequently, the female flew to perch on the top of a metal fence before flying into the thick undergrowth, which was on the other side of the footpath. Shortly after, the male followed; but it flew straight into the undergrowth with the lizard’s tail still in its beak. The undergrowth was dense, but at least two juveniles could be seen from the obscured view. The adults lead the juveniles to disappear deeper into the dense vegetation. Hence, the actual feeding was unable to be seen.

“As luck would have it, another lizard was caught. This time, actual feeding to one of the juveniles was seen and images were captured. At first, the juvenile had problem dealing with the prey. The adult helped by retrieving the lizard from the juvenile’s beak. The lizard was then passed back to the juvenile, which finally managed to swallow the lizard whole. Though it looked similar to the first lizard, this was obviously a different one as its tail was still intact.

“Note: As the images of the juvenile in this encounter was rather poor in quality, I have attached a photo of a juvenile that was taken on another occasion to show its actual appearance with more colourful plumage compared to the adult oriental magpie robins (above).”

Kwong Wai Chong
Singapore
13th July 2010

On 14th May 2010, sitting by the road at an altitude of 1,800m in Cameron Highlands’ Gunong Brinchang in Malaysia, Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS had the good fortune of encountering an adult Mountain Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus trivirgatus).

The bird was about 2-3 metres away on the other side of the road. It was moving cautiously down the embankment, holding a white butterfly/moth in its bill. It was bringing it to its nest to feed the young. Although aware of being observed, it continued cautiously.

“These are very fast moving birds and combined with poor lighting (overcast day), photography was tough,” wrote Amar. “It was surprisingly very tolerant of the camera. We were delighted with the trust shown by this beautiful bird and were not about to break it by using flash. Naked eye viewing was spectacular. The butterfly/moth looked like a flower held in the beak. The whole episode was magical and very beautiful. It seemed to be getting close to the nest when an approaching car frightened it away. We waited for a few minutes and then decided to abandon the site to give it and the family some peace. There were too many recesses in the embankment to say where a possible nest was.”

The Drongo Cuckoo (Surniculus lugubris) is a nest parasite, with the female laying her eggs in the nest of the Pin-striped Tit-babbler (Macronus gularis). The former is about twice the size of the latter. Within a few days of hatching, the cuckoo chick would have outgrown the host.

The image below, captured by Chris Lee a.k.a. chrisle023, shows the much larger fledgling of the Drongo Cuckoo being fed by its very much smaller foster parent, the Pin-striped Tit-babbler. It is a sight to behold, seeing the smaller adult feeding the larger fledgling, whose reddish gape is large enough to contain the head of the foster parent. Considering the large size of the chick, the foster parents will have to work flat out to keep the hungry juvenile satisfied.

An earlier post shows a small, unidentified babbler feeding a much larger Drongo Cuckoo fledgling.

Many species of cuckoo practice nest parasitism. Once a cuckoo lays her egg in the nest of a host, the entire burden of hatching, feeding and caring of the young falls on the foster parents. Not only that, the cuckoo chick on hatching will throw out the host’s egg or young in order to get the full attention of the foster parents. In this way the cuckoo can continue laying eggs in the nests of other hosts.

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 Mangrove Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis rufigastra) is a rare resident in Singapore. It is found mainly in mangroves and the surrounding areas. And due to habitat loss and poaching, it has become a nationally endangered species.

David Tan’s documentation the Mangrove Blue Flycatcher feeding a pair of chicks on 25th May 2010 is the latest of the few breeding records that have come to light. It is heartening to know that the bird is still breeding in the remaining degraded pockets of mangroves.

The nest is built in the rotted hollow top of a palm stem that can well be a bayas Oncosperma horridum or a nibong (O. tigillarium).

The food that the adults bring to the chicks include grasshoppers (left) and caterpillars - moth caterpillar, possibly family Noctuidae (below left) and butterfly caterpillar, possibly mid-instar (below right).

The chicks are also fed with a hopper nymph (Homoptera) (below left) and a jumping spider (family Salticidae) (below right).

Dr Leong Tzi Ming who assisted in the identification of the insects, adds: “Lovely images captured in startling detail. Thank you for the preview and congrats to David S. H. Tan for his brilliant photography.”

A pair of Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti leschenaulti), also known as Bay-headed was nesting in a cavity dug on a slope of a cleared ground about 30 metres from a disused mining pool. The area, near Chemor in Perak, Malaysia, was a sandy open ground with scrub cover. Trees were only seen nearer to the pool.

First sighted a week earlier, the nest was carefully monitored on 21st March 2010 from a distance of 20-30 metres away. Even then, Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS had to have a crude ‘camouflage’ cloth over him in order not to distract the birds.

The adults were repeatedly bringing food to the chicks – dragonflies mainly, always with wings still on (above). On 29th March the chicks were still inside the nest and the adults were constantly delivering food, again, mainly dragonflies. Based on images taken from a distance, the dragonflies could be of the family Libelluilidae, possibly Urothemis signata and Orthetrum sabina, based on the brown wings and red, stocky body

The adults only approached the nest if Amar was at least 25 meters away and either hidden among the vegetation or inside his car. The birds appeared to be disturbed by the presence of the camera.

Usually, an adult arrived with food and within 30 seconds the other would come. However, there were at least five instances during the 2.5 hours of stakeout when one arrived while the other was still inside the nest (above). The newly arrived adult entered the nest only to find its mate inside. It then had to back out, fly off temporarily to allow the mate to leave before returning to feed the chicks. This could be because of the presence of Amar. When observations were made inside the car parked at a distance, food deliveries were smooth. As soon as an adult arrived, it would call to alert the other inside the nest, who would then leave, allowing clear passage for the newly arrival to enter the nest.

One of the adults usually reversed out of the nest when leaving while the other came out headfirst. Or it could be that an adult either reverse out or came out headfirst.

On 3rd April, with the chicks now about 14-21 days old, it would probably take another 7-14 days before fledging. The rate of feeding, observed during one mid-morning (0830-1200 hours) when there were no disturbances and observed from the car used as a hide, is: mean 91.5 seconds (n=20, range=30-180 seconds std. dev.=61.9). However, whenever there was a disturbance, feeding could be halted for up to 15 minutes. The rate of feeding here is compared to that for the Blue-throated Bee-eater (Merops viridis) of every 30 minutes (Wells, 1999).

It is also possible that feeding regularity varies with the time of day and the availability of food, although there was no short of supply of dragonflies in the area.

The final visit to the site on 11th April saw the chicks (at least two) with the adults in a tree about 30 metres away. This allowed detailed measurements of the nest and nesting site (above). Another nest was sighted about 5 metres from the first, not noticed earlier as it was hidden from view. Was this a new or an old nest? At the same time, a pair of Blue-throated Bee-eater (Merops viridis) in breeding plumage was seen around. Were they using this second nest? Or was this an earlier attempt to nest by the Chestnut-throated Bee-eaters or a new nest excavated to prepare it for a new brood?

The first nesting hole extends more than 0.5 metres into the ground, sloping downwards before going upwards. No attempt was made to probe with a metal tape for total depth as the nest could still be used after the chicks fledged (Connie Khoo, pers. obs.). The nest entrance, 14 cm from the top, measures 10 x 6 cm. The entire slope surface of the nest site has an incline of 5º and measures 32 cm.

The calls of the Chestnut-headed Bee-eater can be heard HERE.