The Dark-throated Oriole (Oriolus xanthonotus) is a resident of Malaysia but has disappeared from the Singapore scene.
The bird is a generalist, taking fruits like figs and insects. In the above image by Sandy Chian, the oriole is seen picking a caterpillar from the branch of a tree.
This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.
In May 2008 Adrian Lim a.k.a. wmw998 photographed a Blue-winged Minla (Minla cyanouroptera) catching and eating a moth in the highland of Peninsular Malaysia. He wrote that these minlas “behave very much like Mountain Fulvettas in their eating habit, but they move faster and most of the time, are at a higher level. They are also seen more often in the open than the Fulvettas. These shots were taken early in the morning.”
The bird held the moth in its foot (top) and used its bill to bash as well as rub it against the branch to stun and get rid of most of the scales, if not the wings themselves, before swallowing it (above, below).
This shy forest babbler is little known. Wells (2007), who calls it Blue-winged Minla, gives its food as a variety of berries, stating that no animal food has been identified.
Collars & Robson (2007) place it as a Siva. They believe that it is markedly different vocally from Minla and there is no evidence for a close relationship – thus Blue-winged Siva (Minla cyanouroptera). The food is recorded as “Insects, berries and seeds.”
Adrian has obviously uncovered a new food record for this babbler – a moth.
References:
1. Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. (2007). Family Timaliidae (Babblers). Pp. 70-291 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chikadees. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.
2. Wells, D.R. (2007). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London.
This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.
Bee-eaters hunt from an exposed perch, waiting for insects to fly by. Once an insect is spotted, it flies after it and simply picks it out of the air. The pair of slender and sharp pointed mandibles that make up the bill function like a pair of highly efficient forceps.
The images above show the Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus) manipulating a dragonfly after catching and thrashing it. Clamped at the tip of its bill (left), the bird deftly tossed the subdued insect to reposition it for swallowing (right).
In the case of the Blue-throated Bee-eater (M. viridis) that has caught what looks like a wasp and a moth, the prey is similarly treated (above).
When a venomous bee is caught, as in the case of the Rainbow Bee-eater (M. ornatus) of Australia, the prey needs to be rubbed against the perch to remove the sting and the venom (above).
The images above show the Rainbow Bee-eater with a beetle (left) and a cicada (right) in its bill. Again, these insects need to be subdued before swallowing.
This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.
All images by Dr Eric Tan.
The Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) is a yellow-green bird with two white wing bars. It is a common resident of parks, gardens, mangroves and open country.
It hunts for insects and other arthropods high up in the canopy of trees. Prey items include mantids, ants, bees, caterpillars as well as an occasional butterfly/moth. It has also been recorded to take spiders.
Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman documented the bird catching a praying mantis and bashing it against the branch where it was perching before swallowing (above).
He has also documented the bird with a caterpillar clamped in its bill, swiping it on its perch a few times before swallowing (above). The caterpillar is hairy and apparently the bird swallowed it hair and all. The swiping was to remove the stomach content.
All images were photographed from his backyard in Raub, Pahang, Malaysia.
Butterflies and moths are regularly fed upon by birds. Once caught between the bill, the birds often flick the insect to remove the wings before swallowing the body. The image below (right) shows a bee-eater handling either a butterfly or a moth, with wing parts flying off towards the lelt of the image. The image on the left shows an Asian Paradise-flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) with a butterfly in its bill. Again, parts of the wings have been damaged.
It has been shown that the caterpillars of the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) feed on milkweed (Asclepias spp.) that contains cardiac glycosides. The caterpillars store these glycosides as well as pass them on to the adults. Birds find Monarch butterflies distasteful, vomiting shortly after eating a monarch caterpillar or adult. The experience is usually so traumatic that the bird will avoid such insects, even insects that look like it.
Most of our attractive birdwings, belonging to the family Papilionidae, that inlcude Common Birdwing (Troides helena), Common Rose (Pachliopta aristolochiae), Lime Butterfly (Papilio demoleus), Common Mormon (Papilio polytes) and Great mormon (P. memnon) are poisonous or distasteful.
Although the caterpillars of some of the above butterflies feed on plants containing alkaloids that may be poisonous or distasteful to birds, those of Lime Butterfly and possibly mormon (above) feed mainly on citrus leaves that may be harmless. So the big question is whether these butterflies are actually distasteful to birds or is mimicry involved?
Addenda:
Steven Chong: “Generally the Papilio family except Common Rose ie Common Birdwing (Troides helena), Lime Butterfly (Papilio demoleus), Common Mormon (P. polytes) and Great Mormon (P. memnon) …are not distasteful to birds. But the Danainae family or nowadays called Nymphalidae overall, which include the Monarch and milkweed butterflies are the poisonous models because as mentioned correctly, due to the poisonous sap found in milkweed plants. Even Common Rose these days are taken by birds I wonder if they have adapted to the taste, the subject of some discussion ie why they are taken.
“…forgot Common Birdwing should be considered poisonous, as both feeds also on Aristolochia tagala. BIG chairmain Simon Chan thinks Common Rose ‘nowadays maybe the birds have to eat the poisonous ones too because of lack of things to eat. Personally, in addition to Simon’s, I suspect different birds have different tolerant levels in their stomachs and some will eat, others avoid.”
Images by Johnny Wee (bee-eater), Chan Yoke Meng (flycatcher) and YC (butterfly).
Reference:
Huheey, J.E. (1984). [‘Warning coloration and mimicry’]. Pp. 257-300 in Bell, W.J. & Carde, R.T. (eds.) Chemical ecology of insects. New York: Chapman & Hall.
