Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman photographed a male Common Flameback (Dinopium javanense) perching on a rotten tree trunk probing for the larvae of wood-boring insects (above left). Because the trunk is rotten and pieces had broken off, when the bird started probing, his tongue could clearly be seen emerging from the other end of the tunnel (above right).

The woodpecker’s tongue is its most important tool when probing for larvae. It is extremely long, has specialised muscles that enable the bird to extend and retract it with ease, and the tip is covered with backward-pointing barbs. At the same time there are glands that secrete a sticky fluid. All these adaptations allow the bird to locate larvae hidden inside rotten wood and once located, to extract them.

Reference:
Short, L. L. & J. F. M. Horne, 2002. Family Capitonidae (Barbets). In: del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.), Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 7. Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. Pp. 140-219.

“I have an observation about crows which was unusual to me. In 2006, I saw flocks of crows surrounding a fisherman at a canal in Pasir Ris, near the Avana Downtown East Resort. The fisherman was using a casting net to catch tilapia in the shallow canal. He threw away many small silver fishes about 2 inches long. I observed a crow with a fish in its beak, flying to a grassy area. Instead of eating the fish, the crow found a patch on the ground and buried the fish, as if to hide it from other crows. It then flew off to get some more. Can someone explain this behaviour? Thanks.”

Crows have been reported to store food when there is more than they can consume (Feher-Elston, 2005). They will hide or cache the excess food in tree crevices or dig a hole in the ground, dropping the food and covering the hole with leaves. They usually remember where they cache it and return later when needed.

Marzluff & Angell (2005) reported smaller corvids collecting hard-shelled pine and hazel seeds, store them in their throat pouch and fly long distances to their caching grounds. This happened during summer and the seeds were retrieved in winter. American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) have been known to cache a variety of animals too large to finish at one time.

So far, caching has been reported for western crows and ravens. There are no reports of caching among local crows. This is the first report, unless someone can point me to an earlier report.

References:
1. Feher-Elston, C., 2005. Ravensong: A natural and fabulous history of ravens and crows. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, New York. 208 pp.
2. Marzluff, J. M. & T. Angell, 2005. In the company of crows and ravens. Yale University Press, New Haven & London. 384 pp.

Opel Mok saw through the nesting of a pair of Spotted Doves (Streptopelia chinensis) on a pot of mint plant in his porch (1, 2). Weeks after the chicks fledged, the adults returned with their fledglings to the nesting area, much to the delight of Opel and his wife. So they left food for the birds to feed on.

Opel subsequently constructed a crude feeder made from an old soft drink bottle glued to a base (below left) and filled with a commercial bird feed (left; below centre) that cost him S$1.50 per packet. This worked fine and the returning birds had a constant supply of feed (below right). In fact the birds ate and ate, finishing a bottle within two days… and in the process messed up the place… and left Opel annoyed.
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Lee Tiah Khee managed to photograph a Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus) diving into the water of the Symphony Lake at the Singapore Botanic Gardens on 18th August 2008.

He spent time observing the birds and noticed that the birds flew to a perch in a nearby tree immediately after the dive. There, they bashed their catch against the branch before swallowing. What exactly they caught, Tiah Khee was not able to say. His guess is that they may be some insects. Maybe next time he would be able to provide photographic evidence.

We posted two earlier accounts of the Blue-tailed Bee-eater diving in the Symphony Lake. In one, we suspected that the bird was fishing. The second post showed proof that it was taking a dip. Now, we have proof that the bee-eater caught something, a fish probably, from the water.

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

Blue-throated Bee-eaters (Merops viridis) catch dragonflies on the wing (above), with the latter twisting and turning in the air when chased and the former trying very hard to manoeuvre likewise. The chase sometimes looks like a dogfight between two warring fighter planes – one large and the other small. Frequently the dragonfly escapes. After all, dragonflies usually also hunt on the wing and have the skills to do so.

The dragonfly is usually caught at the thorax, where the insect is thickest (below left, right). It is then brought back to the perch where it is subdued and eaten, a habit very similar to that of the prey. The bird usually tosses the dragonfly in the air to position it for swallowing head first (below middle).

Dragonflies are reasonably large insects with prominent wings that give an audible clatter when flying. They have a large head and two equally large compound eyes. They thus make excellent subjects for photographers, especially when they are captured and manipulated by the long pointed bill of bee-eaters.

Photo credits: Lee Tiah Khee (top); Dr Jonathan Cheah Weng Kwong (bottom left), James Wong (bottom middle); Joseph Yao (bottom right).

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