At the Keledang Sayong Forest Reserve in Perak, Malaysia on 24th April 2010, Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS observed what he believes to be a maternal protective behaviour.

He was watching a female Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum cruentatum) and a juvenile that was noisly begging for food. The adult was feeding it with the fruit of Melastoma malabathricum. The male was not around.

“As I was watching at eye level, from about 3-4 meters, the female stopped and flew straight at me, eye level,” recounted Amar. “There have been very few instances where birds have flown straight at me. It then flew past my head to settle just behind me to feed in some mistletoe. The juvenile did not follow.”

“I turned to watch at less than a meter. She continued to do this for about a minute. She seemed satisfied that my attention was now on her, and not the juvenile, then flew back to the original Melastoma plant to continue feeding the juvenile,” continued Amar. “I felt this behaviour was ‘protective parenting’ and decided the leave them without further disturbance/observation. I offer this observation as a possible mechanism by this flowerpecker to distract a potential threat from a juvenile.”

For an account of the Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker and Melastome malabathricum as well as images of the bird and plant, please see HERE.

“It was at Yala National Park, Sri Lanka, that we observed how a Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala) caught its prey. As the bird waded along, it used its feet to feel the ground, or was it using its feet to disturb its prey on the ground and under the water.

“As one can see, the bird is not able to see anything under the water so it must be feeling around for the prey. And or it must have very sensitive sensors in its bill to detect its prey. Whether it is detecting very faint electrical pluses emanating from the prey, at the moment we don’t know. And how is it that the bird is able to clam onto its prey with such ease and accuracy is really fascinating to witness.”
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KC Tsang
Singapore
8th August 2010

“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

Earlier in October 2009, Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS reported on the birds that visited the common mahang (Macaranga bancana) at the Kledang-Sayong Forest Reserve in Ipoh, Malaysia to feed on the fruits. In all, he recorded 2 spp of spiderhunters, 4 spp of bulbuls, 4 spp of sunbirds, 2 spp of flycatchers and 1 sp of iora – a total of 13 spp.

Amar returned to the tree in July 2010 and reported two new species of spiderhunter - Yellow-eared Spiderhunter (Arachnothera chrysogenys chrysogenys) that was reasonably common and Spectacled Spiderhunter (A. flavigaster) that was seen only once. The Grey-breasted Spiderhunter (A. modesta modesta), reported earlier, was very common, constantly chasing away the Purple-naped Sunbird (Hypogramma hypogrammicum nuchale).

The Yellow-eared Spiderhunter, although interrupted by the Spectacled Spiderhunter, spent a reasonable time feeding on the fruits. It needed to flutter or hover in the air, or do contortions to access the fruit. “Unlike the Spectacled Spiderhunter, they feed by picking the fruit with the tip of the long beak and then working it back slowly until swallowed,” reported Amar (above). “When seen together, there is no mistaking the Spectacled from the Yellow-eared Spiderhunter. The Yellow-eared has a smaller yellow eye ring (incomplete posterior-inferiorly), a larger and more ‘feathery’ ear-covert, among other features. But lighting can play a big factor in identification. The calls of course are quite different, more ‘chit-chit’ uttered singly or stringed out in a fast series of calls - see HERE

On 22nd July the Spectacled Spiderhunter monopolised the tree, chasing away sunbirds and other spiderhunters – although they came back very quickly or just moved to another branch. As with the Yellow-eared, the Spectacled had to flutter or hover in the air, or do contortions to access the fruits. “They search diligently for fruits and their beaks were stained with pollen from the flowers and may be important for pollination. They feed by picking the fruit with the tip of the long beak and then throwing it up in the air to catch and swallowing it,” observed Amar (above left). “The eye size in the drawings of some field guides is not very accurate as it is much larger when seen close up. They have a loud call ‘ta-chak’ (see Wells 2007) which is used often and appears to be territorial and well as used to show displeasure (have a video of bird uttering calls). Sometimes the call is used repeatedly for long periods with odd fluttering of the wings and tail – very much like a juvenile asking for food (this bird was feeding independently).”

A new species of bulbul, Buff-vented Bulbul (Iole olivacea olivacea), visited as a pair (above right). In addition, there were a number of Spectacled Bulbuls (Pycnonotus erythropthalmos) around, reported earlier.

There was also a pair of Brown Barbet (Calorhamphus fuliginosus hayii), not reported previously (above left). According to Amar, “A pair of Brown Barbet came to feed on this tree. The male stood guard at first, watching me while the female sampled the fruit. Their method of feeding was quite destructive as they tear off a whole bunch of fruit – ripe and unripe. Then only eat the ripe ones. Fortunately for the sunbirds and spiderhunters, they left fairly quickly.”

About five Everett’s White-eyes (Zosterops everetti tahanensis) were also seen feeding on the fruits (above right). These “white-eyes are mobile and very persistent, searching many bunches of fruit for the ripe red berries, sometimes stretching and contorting to reach them,” reported Amar.

As for sunbirds, the previously reported Plain Sunbird (Anthreptes simplex) was again commonly seen. Both male and female were around, occasionally hovering (above left) in the air to pick the fruits that were hard to reach from the branch. The sunbirds then perched on a nearby branch, tossed the fruits into the air to catch and swallow them (above right).

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.