On 2nd June 2008, Johnny Wee was witness to a Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) at the Chinese Garden in Jurong catching a fish.

The heron was in the shallow water when it sighted a fish nearby. With a swift move, it caught the fish and flew off to dry land. There, it took about 15 minutes to manipulate the tilapia before it could swallow it head-first.

After swallowing the fish, it went to the water edge to drink - a total of five times before it was satisfied. The fish was flattish and broad. Was it a little too wide for the heron to swallow comfortably, so that it needed water for “lubrication”?

As with kingfishers, owls and bee-eaters, the indigestible parts are eventually regurgitated in the form of a pellet.

A White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) was photographed by Joseph Yao swallowing a lizard nearly as long as itself. This, of course includes the lizard’s long tail.

The lizard was caught and brought back to the kingfisher’s perch where it was subdued by bashing it against the wooden billboard. The lizard was then grabbed by the head and with one flick of the bird’s head, was swallowed head-first.

The entire process of swallowing lasted only 90 seconds when only the end portion of the tail was still projecting out of the bill.

The food of this kingfisher includes insects, crustaceans, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and small mammals. In the above case, the lizard, from head to tail was slightly longer than the bird itself. It has not been observed how long the end of the tail disappeared into the bird but there have been cases where it may take some time for the head end to be digested before the tail end completely disappears into the bird.

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 Joseph Yao.

The Great Egret (Casmerodius albus), also known as Great White Egret, is an impressive looking bird. Standing at 100 cm tall or more, it is one of the larger herons around. A common winter visitor, the bird can be seen all the year round around rivers, mangroves and such habitats.

To see one in action catching fish is a memorable sight indeed. Like most herons, the Great Egret is usually a passive hunter. Most times it takes a few slow steps in the shallow water, stands quietly and still, and waits for prey to approach.

In this case the heron was apparently on land. It made a sudden lunge, flapping its huge white wings to make the short flight into the water. It landed in the shallow water and immediately plunged at the fish. The long, sharp bill was deadly accurate, seizing the fish around the centre. The fish was then flipped to reposition it so that it could be swallowed head-first.

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 James Wong.

Has anyone has ever seen a White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) snatching a rat out from a monsoon drain? Eddy Lee Kam Pang has. He chanced upon the incident when an adult eagle flew down into a monsoon drain at Bukit Panjang on 12th May 2008 in pursuit of a rat.

“I got blown-away by the action of this bird as to what was it doing in a monsoon drain whose water level was extremely low at the time. Certainly an unlikely place to find a sizable fish,” mused Eddy.

“The eagle was unfortunately out of sight from where I was standing. A moment later, it re-emerged with an unusual cargo in its talons…a rat (above)! And flew off with it (below).

“The rat must have been caught off-guard while scavenging for scraps as the eagle swiftly slipped in from above. This bird was usually seen taking fishes but rat was my first time. Its usual diet includes fish, turtles and sea snakes

“Though I had read an earlier article of this species ripping off a swimming rat out of the sea at Changi, this was not caught from the sea or even pond or lake..

“The eagle might be testing its skills trying to catch something different or perhaps just a change of taste?”

White-bellied Sea Eagle is reported to take mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and carrion. However, the main foods are fish and sea snake. Consider that this eagle is an opportunistic feeder, it should not be a surprise that it also eats rat. Obviously, in urban Singapore, the eagle has adapted well to feed on a rat caught in a monsoon drain.

References:
1. Thiollay, J. M. (1994). Family Accipitridae (Hawks and Eagles). Pp. 52-205 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 2. New world vultures to guineafowl. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.
2. Wells, D.R. (1999). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. I, Non-passerines. Academic Press, London.

In August 2007 Adrian Lim a.k.a. wmw998 had the rare opportunity of witnessing a Gold-whiskered Barbet (Megalaima chrysopogon) capturing a small bird in Taman Rimba Ampang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The barbet was first spotted in the tree, looking for fruits and possibly insects (above). Along came a small bird that Adrian thought was a juvenile sunbird, also looking for food. Then suddenly, the ’sunbird’, flew off into the bushes, followed by the barbet.

The next thing Adrian saw “…was the fluffy thing flying around, and I thought the barbet had just got a big moth. Not until I stopped shooting did I realise that the barbet was actually having the sunbird in its beak, and was shaking it around and trying to swallow it (above).

“The barbet then went up to another tree, still trying to swallow the sunbird… Not sure what happened after.”

Well, the barbet was bashing the hapless prey against the branch it was perching on (below)

According to KC Tsang, the prey does not look like a sunbird. Its bill is not long and curved enough. It is possibly a flowerpecker, a newly fledged flowerpecker. Look at the prominent yellow oral flanges lining the bill.

Barbets have always been known to be fruit eaters. And they are always seen around fruiting fig trees. Ornithologists believe that it very seldom takes birds although Lineated Barbet (Megalaima lineata) has been recorded to eat birds’ eggs and nestlings as well as frogs and lizards (Short & Horne, 2002).

As far as Gold-whiskered Barbet is concerned, very little about its food other than fruits is known. Until of course, Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman photographed a Gold-whiskered Barbet catching and eating a Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) at his backyard in Raub, Malaysia.

Now, we have another report of this same barbet eating a recently fledged flowerpecker. Yes, another new record indeed. And would you believe it, both instances have been recorded by photographers.

Barbets are very aggressive birds, always looking for a fight, especially when food is concerned. They are also aggressive when intruders approach their nesting and roosting cavities. Short & Horne (2002) report that “interspecific aggression is most evident in the breeding season, when ‘innocent’ birds of species that are not nest-hole competitors are attacked without cause.”

The bill of the barbet is stout, pointed and not flattened laterally (above). This is an adaptation for excavating nesting cavities in rotting tree trunks and branches. It is definitely not adapted for tearing flesh. Thus it has to bash the bird it catches to break it up before swallowing. Unfortunately, there has been on observation on whether it tears the prey to pieces to swallow them separately.

It is to be noted that in eating fruits, small ones are swallowed whole while larger ones are first broken up and then crushed to a pulp by the mandibles before swallowing. Even in eating large and armoured insect, they need to be bashed before swallowing. What more a bird!

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

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 Adrian Lim.