In August 2008, Cherylyn Straubmuller wrote: “Recently, an albino chickadee has been coming to eat at our feeders in New Jersey, US. Although our camera isn’t the best, we have some great pictures of her, if you would like to see them. Her mate constantly takes care of her, feeding and grooming.”

Subsequently, Cherylyn added: “The albino can fly well, however, it will land on the feeders but not feed from them. It has landed on the ground and pecked seed. This is the third day that it has visited.”

We were delighted to hear from a birder in the United States and to publish her observation.

Normally, an albino bird would be an outcast in its flock. As it looks different from the others, it would be taken as an outsider, another species altogether. We suspect that the albino bird is a recently fledged chickadee and the parent is still feeding it.

NOTE: Nick Sly (see comment) has since pointed out that the bird is actually a House Sparrow. We have changed the title accordingly. We apologise for the error and thank Nick for pointing out the misidentification.

An earlier post shows an albino Javan Myna (Acridotheres javanicus) being accepted by others of its species.

Roger Moo a.k.a. Cactus400D caught sight of this adult female Silver-eared Mesia (Mesia argentauris) feeding its noisy fledgling and recorded a series of images he is sharing with viewers here.

This is a colourful bird in its black cap, silvery white ear-patch, orange yellow forehead and underparts and red wing-patch. Although colourful, it is only conspicuous when around the forest edge. Once inside the forest, it totally disappears among the canopy, except from its song.

The nest and eggs have been described but incubation and fledging periods are unknown. Up to three eggs are laid and all three chicks have been known to fledge. The bird is known to be a general feeder, taking fruits, insects and their larvae, including ants.

This babbler is a common resident in Malaysia, not seen in Singapore.

All images by Roger Moo.

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

Tan Teo Seng brought me what looked like a larger than usual munia’s nest (1, 2) on 7th July 2008. It had two entrances, one above, the other below. It was inadvertently cut off when his worker did some heavy pruning of his Duranta erecta shrub in his garden in Johor, Malaysia.

The structure was actually two nests, built side by side. The upper was 13 x 19 cm with an opening diameter of 3.5 cm; the lower 12 x 16 cm with a 3 cm opening. Both were ovals, the openings overhung with isolated pieces of grass inflorescence stalks.

After measurements the nests were left on a table in the porch. The top nest was empty as I could see the inside. The bottom nest appeared to be empty also.

In the evening I suddenly heard the chattering of what appeared to be a number of chicks begging for food. The sound appeared to come from the porch roof. As suddenly as it started, the sound ended a few minutes later. I was to hear the chirping on and off the next day. However, I could not locate the nesting area nor see and adult birds approaching to feed the chicks.

On the morning of 9th July, as I was standing by the two nests on the low table, the chirping suddenly started. Again it appeared to come from above. Imagine my surprise when I happened to glance at the nests and saw a chick at the entrance begging for food.

Only then did I realise that the chirping came from one of the two nests. The chicks moved out of the nest entrance to reveal another. The second chick was persuaded to emerge. There was a third but it appeared stuck inside. Only by carefully cutting the nest did I manage to extract it. There were a fourth, a fifth and a sixth. All were crammed inside the 7 x 8 cm nesting space and the cramming obviously caused the sixth and smallest chick to die. The image below (left) shows the five live chicks while the right image the sixth dead chick.

The five chicks were placed in a basin and fed with a liquid mixture of leftover boiled carrot soup. Initially, each chick was hand-held and persuaded to open its bill to accept the liquid food in drops, delivered via a dropper. In subsequent feedings a few of the chicks enthusiastically pushed their throats into the top of the dropper to receive the food.

The chicks were used to huddle together in the tight nest space (bottom left) and when given space to move around in the basin, still huddled together, the larger chicks climbing over the backs of the smaller.

It was easier to feed them thus. As each chick gaped, I was able to place drops of food into its throat. There was always fierce competition to be fed first. All five ate well. After each feed the throat pouch swelled (bottom right).

The scrambling, one on top of the other, apparently caused two other chicks to die on the 10th July, leaving three of the more healthy ones.

Sadly, the remaining three chicks died the next day. Did they die because of the feed? Do they need to be fed solid? Were they weakened because they were left without food during the first two days?

According to Teo Seng, he had earlier observed about six adult munias popping out one by one from the same two nests one evening when he was near the plant. He was not able to confirm from which of the two nests these birds flew out from but he was definite that they flew out of the nest/s. Otherwise all the birds would have flown off together when disturbed.

The literature mention egg dropping by female munias, meaning other females are prone to lay their eggs in an active nest. Normally about six eggs are laid per nest.

Another question that needs to be answered is whether munias roost inside empty nests. And how many birds can a nest accommodate for roosting. Field ornithologist Wang Luan Keng confirms that roosting in empty nests does occur. She further revealed that there may also be nest parasitism but this obviously did not happen here as all six chicks looked alike.

The construction of the boardwalk in Changi in 2003 has proved to be a boom to bird photographers, especially that section known as Kelong Walk. Here, nibong (Oncosperma sp.) stems have been used to give this section of the walk a “kelong” look reminiscent of the old fish traps that once were common around the local coasts.

Due to the weather, the top portions of these posts have worn down, providing nesting cavities to Dollarbirds (Eurystomus orientalis). And bird photographers have been flocking there to document the nesting behaviour of these birds.

In 2007 James Wong a.k.a. Jw73 photographed the adults feeding the recently fledged chicks with insects (top, above). Fry (2001) reports that Dollarbirds take large insects like beetles, mantises, grasshoppers, shield-bugs, cicadas, moths and termites. A recent post shows the adult catching a shield-bug (Cantau ocellatus) to feed its young.

Insects are caught on the wing (above) and brought back to the perch where they are shaken rather than beaten against the branch (below).

Reference:
Fry, C.H. (2001). Family Coraciidae (Rollers). Pp. 342-377 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. (2001). Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 6. Mousebirds to Hornbills. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.

All images by James Wong.

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 Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis) is a very familiar bird, found in nearly all habitats. The plumage of the adults can change from brilliant green to purple to black under bright sunlight. The bright red eyes are distinctive. Juveniles appear different. They have a creamy breast streaked with black and a dull, green-grey back.

The birds gather in flocks when feeding and in larger flocks when roosting.

The birds nest the year round, in a variety of cavities – in trees, eves of houses, even in the crowns of palms. A full clutch of eggs is three and often all three survive to fledge.

Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman made detailed documentation of the adults feeding the three fledglings from his home base in Raub, Pahang in Peninsular Malaysia.

It is always fascinating to observe such feeding. The two adults cannot satisfy the three fledglings all at the same time. At the most they can feed two at a time, leaving the third hungry and begging. However, as soon as a fledgling is fed, it will start begging all over again. Now how do the adults know which has been fed and which needs to be fed?

The colour of the inner lining of the fledgling’s mouth indicates whether it has just been fed or not - check it it out HERE.

Feeding of the three fledglings is a full time job for the two parents. The fledglings are always hungry and have huge appetites. Imagine, should one adult be predated, can the other cope?