On 25th February 2008, KC Tsang circulated the following account:

“It is sad to see this very regal-looking bird end up 
this way in someone’s cage in Bintan, Indonesia. Could it be
 for the better? I found this out from two very
 reliable sources. One was an Indian couple I met at a party, and 
the other, a person who was able to supply these pictures.

The Himalayan Vulture (Gyps himalayensis), also known as Himalayan Griffon, is now caged in a resort there.

“I was told that it was
 caught while feeding on a pig’s carcass in a pig farm.
 I am just wondering how is it that a pig’s carcass was
 left rotting, and for the vulture to come and feed on
 it.

“As it was so hungry, it was not too concerned with 
humans coming close enough to capture it.
 The time of capture of this beautiful bird, I was told, 
was sometime last year, I would hazard a guess, some
time November, December?



“So if there is some one out there who has more information on this bird, please do let us have it.”

This vulture is resident of Central Asia and the Himalayas. So far, a number of birds have been recorded to migrate as far south as Singapore since 1989. In January 1992 a small flock of nine birds were photographed at roost by J Smith and Morten Strange at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. As recent as 23rd January this year, we have sightings of three birds, two of which were photographed by Lee Tiah Khee flying over Bukit Timah.

Previously known to be sedentary and only migrating altitudinally, these vultures are more and more seen south of its normal range. This may be suggestive of an irruption or a range expansion of the species (Wang & Hails, 2007).

Wang. L.K. & Hails, C. J. (2007). An annotated checklist of birds of Singapore. Raffles Bull. Zool. Suppl. 15:1-179.

. .

In early January, Daniel Koh came across a dead Little Heron (Butorides striatus) dangling at the end of a fishing line that got entangled on a branch of a casuarina (Casuarina equisetifolia) tree in Punggol Park.

The dead Little Heron apparently swallowed a fish still attached to a hook at the end of a fishing line. An angler must have carelessly disposed his line with a bait fish still attached to the hook and the bird must have swallowed the fish and subsequently the line got entangled onto the branch. Stuck to the hook and dangling on the line, the poor bird slowly died from starvation.

The pond in the park is a designated fishing area and anglers are always there. This is an example of what can happen if fishing lines are indiscriminately disposed of.

Images by Daniel Koh and Chan Yoke Meng.

March 2007 was a busy period for the male Baya Weavers (Ploceus philippinus). This was the beginning of the breeding season and they were all busy building their nests. Nests are normally in colonies, attached to the twigs of trees that grow in overgrown undergrowth.

The birds had been building for the last week or so and the nests were at the helmet stage (above: bottom images). They flew in and out, bringing strands of grass and tirelessly weaved them into the incomplete nests (above: top images). Some nests were brown, probably having been completed earlier. Others were green, freshly completed. Yet others had green strands on the surface, indicating that they were being repaired.

The birds got excited at times, chattering noisily. Once in a while one would fly to it’s neighbour and pick a fight. But such fights never lasted long as the birds soon went back to work.

Whenever a female appeared, all the males around became excited. They flew from the nest they were working with to be near the female, chattering and fluttering their wings rapidly.

Once the female flew off, the males returned to work. The images below show the males working tirelessly on the helmet-stage nests while that on the extreme right shows the female inspecting the completed nest.

Then tragedy struck. Within days most of the nests were harvested by poachers. These would probably be sold as garden ornaments. However, there were a few nests that were spared. Nests that the poachers did not dare take. These nests were built near to the hornets’ nest and this probably saved the nesting birds.

Well, the hornets did serve a purpose after all (below).

“Gillie” commented on 16th September 2007 after reading the post on the hornets’ nest: “On a bush walk today we were moving a fallen branch that shook the hornet’s nest (unbeknownst to us) and then I heard this buzzing like a humming bird. Next thing a hornet hit my head and stung me on the top of the head in one swoop. It flew off then came back for another swoop at my hiking partner. He didnt get stung - luckily for him.

“Its now 9hrs since the sting and it still hurts like hell. These guys are aggressive and their sting ain’t fun. Its not super painful, but it just doesn’t stop. It hurts now just as much as it did when I got hit.

“OUCH!

“Steer clear of these nests at all costs!”

Poachers are aware of what hornets can do, but how about birders?

Input by Johnny Wee, Melinda Chan and “Gillie”; images by Chan Yoke Meng (top panel: top right; bottom panel and hornets’ nest) and Johnny (rest).

Trapping birds using birdlime is a worldwide problem. Birdlime is a sticky substance made from plant materials. Different countries use different materials and methods of preparation.

The birdlime is smeared along a branch that is then placed in a suitable location with a decoy bird. The decoy is usually left tied nearby and its cries will attract nearby birds. Once a bird perches on the branch it gets stuck and as it struggles to get free, gets further entangled in the gummy substance. The trapper returns to claim his prize, either as food or to be sold to the cage bird trade.

In many western countries this method of trapping is illegal. Not so in many Asian countries.

Mandy Andrea of the Indonesian Parrot Project has this to say: “Yes, it is used because it is cheap. Following are photos we took of this practice. The glue (resin) that this farmer uses is readily available from a fairly common tree.

“He brings his lure bird that he keeps in this small cage (left).

“The lure bird is chained to the branch (below left). The resin is applied to the rest of the branch. What usually happens is the trappers will then return to work in the fields, and come back later. The lure bird attracts a variety of birds, not just his own species.

“He decides he doesn’t like the location. He picks up the branch, slings it over his shoulder, as he walks away, the lure bird dangling and swinging from its ankle chain (below right).

“In this kind of trapping, the wild birds land on the branch, their feet get stuck. They struggle and fall this way and that. When the trapper returns later, the trapped bird is stuck to the branch on many different parts of its body, and they are usually flopped over from the branch in an exhausted daze.”

Check out this link on birdliming and sign the on-line petition against such indiscriminate use of birdlime to trap birds HERE. This petition is against such a practice that is going to be legalised by the government of Catalonia, an Autonomous Community within Spain.

This method of trapping will be used to indiscriminately trap thousands of migrating thrush coming from northern Europe. The birds will be lured by “electronic appeals” meaning recorded birdcalls that attract protected as well as non-protected species.

This is also a problem in Southeast Asia.

Input by Mandy Andrea and KC Tsang, images by Mandy.

On morning of 6th May 2007, KC Tsang and Amy came across a poacher’s trap while out strolling at Changi Point (left). “…and at about 0800 hrs came across this poacher’s trap. It has an Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus) inside to act as a decoy, and the trap has two compartments in which to trap the unwitting bird. It was suspended about twenty feet above ground from a branch of the tree.

“The trap is located at the bottom left hand corner of the Changi Beach Club, if you are facing the sea from the club house. Below the trap is a Hill Myna (Gracula religiosa) in a cage.

“So what can anyone do about this?”

Oriental White-eyes are still a popular cage bird among the Chinese and the Malays. The latter call the bird mata putih, meanging white eye. Does this attempt at trapping the bird indicates that there is a well-organised syndicate at large as suggested earlier? The bird is getting common and actively breeding (1,2,3). Trapping it should be strongly discouragerd.

As in our earlier posts on Straw-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus) (1, 2), the public should contact the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) during office hours as follows :

AVA Wildlife Regulatory Branch: Ms Lye Fong Keng (6325 7349); Mr Gerald Neo (6325 7290); or Ms Yvonne Low (6325 7626).

However, Fang Sher Chyet has written: “The problem with AVA is that they are not working on Sat and Sun, and most of these poachers are active during the weekends. I have e-mailed them poacher activities at Jalan Halus with poacher’s photo and traps (above), but I did not hear from them even after follow-up e-mails. Till today, I still see poachers (sometimes 4 or 5) at Jalan Halus.”

Images by KC (top) and FSC (bottom two).