Most Australian birders would know that Noisy Miners (Manorina melanocephala) are territorial and extremely aggressive. They would not hesitate to attack larger birds that invade their territory.

An earlier post by Dr CH Lee a.k.a lchxian, details the attack by Noisy Miners (Manorina melanocephala) on a helpless Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) in Centennial Park, Sydney, Australia.

Compared to the dove, which is about 15-20 cm long, the miner is larger at 25-29 cm. In the above case a small group of miners were attacking the smaller dove.

The aggressiveness of the miner is further shown when Dr Lee documented a lone Noisy Miner persistently harassing a single but much larger Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina) (above). The latter eventually flew off with the miner chasing it (below). At 44-48 cm long, this currawong is nearly twice the size of the miner.

The Pied Currawong is an omnivorous scavenger. Looking like a crow because of its black plumage and thick, heavy and black bill, it is in fact closely allied to butcherbirds and Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen). It prefers forests and woodlands but has become adapted to urban areas, especially during winter.

Check out Ichxian’s site, walking the path.

In April 2008, a group of Noisy Miners (Manorina melanocephala) was attacking a helpless Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) in Centennial Park, Sydney while Dr CH Lee a.k.a. lchxian was trying to photograph a frogmouth.

“The Noisy Miners were harassing the dove, flying over it and using their claws to grab the dove. I was not convinced at that point that the claws of Noisy Miners could do much harm.”

The miners spread their tails as if in a war dance and surrounded the poor dove that was totally intimidated. One by one the miners made individual aerial attacks, leaving the dove injured.

“There was this urge arising from deep in me… maybe I should be compassionate and help the dove out of danger. But craving for good action photos, I struggled with the decision to stop photographing and start to intervene with the natural world.

“…As I walked towards the birds, a couple walked by. They turned their head to have a look at the commotion and walked on… Later they turned again, seeing this Chinese boy standing near the injured dove, fending away the noisy miners. I wonder what they were thinking…

“As I stood near the dove, it looked scared and badly injured. There were hardly any feathers left in its tail. Surprisingly, as I stepped back to take this photo…, the Noisy Miners attempted another aerial raid. I had to pretend to kick them, to fend them off.

“Standing over the injured dove, I was hoping that it would gain enough strength to fly away. But it just sat there. The Noisy Miners were still loitering around, waiting for their chance to finish up the dove.

“At this point I decided to pick up the dove and send it to a vet. As I held the dove in my palms, it struggled and flew off. One Noisy Miner started to chase after it, luckily the dove managed to fly for cover in a bush nearby.

Noisy Miner is a common Australian bird. Its typical diet consists of nectar, fruit and insects. Occasionally it feeds on small reptiles or amphibians.

A territorial and gregarious bird, it lives in small groups and aggressively defend their area against larger invaders such as magpies, currawongs and crows. They may attack smaller birds inside their territory, particularly in suburban environments that favor them. Although adapted to urban areas, it faces competition from the Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis), an introduced species to Australia. It is also commonly mistaken for the Common Myna.

For a more detailed account, please go to Ichxian’s site.

All images by Dr CH Lee except portrait of Noisy Miner by Dr Eric Tan.

On 2nd May 2008, Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman photographed a Gold-whiskered Barbet (Megalaima chrysopogon) catching an Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) at his backyard in the Pahang town of Raub in Malaysia.

The barbet caught the sparrow in the jambu tree (Syzygium sp.) and flew across the small stream, to perch on a branch of the petai tree (Parkia speciosa) (above). There, it bashed the helpless sparrow again and again on the branch (below) until most of its feathers dropped off and the bird was literally smashed.

“I didn’t believed my eyes when I saw this. The Gold-whiskered Barbet caught the bird for its breakfast.” It then ate parts before flying off with the remainder, “…to finished it off, or maybe giving to its chicks” (below).

Dr Redzlan photographed the bird at 0748 hours and the exciting drama lasted about 12 minutes.

Barbets eat fruits mainly, especially figs, although most members of the family Capitonidae, to which barbets belong, are known to have a mixed diet that include animal food. Animal food also comes into play when feeding nestlings, especially immediately after hatching.

They are sufficiently opportunistic to take advantage of arthropods (invertebrates with exoskeleton) when the opportunity arises. These include termites during their mating flight, ants, dragonflies, cicadas, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, bees, hornets, moths, mantids, stick-insects and a few others.

Lineated Barbet (Megalaima lineata) has been reported to eat birds’ eggs and nestlings as well as frogs and lizards (Short & Horne, 2002). However, there is no record of the Gold-whiskered Barbet taking a bird or even a nestling. This would be the first record. The Gold-whiskered is a canopy bird and very little is known about its food and foraging habits. What is known is that it takes fruits such as figs and berries. And based on circumstantial evidence, insects have been included as another food item.

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.

It was March 2008 and Nelson Khor was birding with a group of photographer buddies at Bukit Tinggit, Pahang, Malaysia when he encountered and photographed a Collared Owlet (Glaucidium brodiei) (above). Roger Moo a.k.a. Cactus400D similarly managed to shoot the seldom seen owlet and wrote an interesting account of their encounter.

It was late evening and they were looking for a spiderhunter. An owl flew in and chased away the spiderhunter. Everyone rushed to the scene to record the owl but it flew away. Later it returned and was again gone. Then, according to Roger, “Out came the spiderhunter like F14 jet fighters zooming in onto the owlet… chasing it from one branch to another… the bulbuls called… out came the White-Rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus), not one but four or five…” These birds were obviously mobbing the owlet and scolding it (above).

“…then came the ‘chipmunk’ squirrels… one took a brave stand and marched right in… onto the branch that the owlet was perching… (above). The squirrel wanted to ‘peck’ the owlet on the face… the owlet flew across the road to another branch opposite… and guess who was ‘disturbed’ by all these but the Orange-breasted Trogon (Harpactes oreskios)… perching and watching… the whole ‘ruckus’ in front..”

Owls are easy to recognise. Their shape and plumage are rather uniform and these give them away. But size varies greatly. Unfortunately, very little is known about their behaviour, especially tropical species. And the smaller owlets, especially of the genus Glaucidium, the situation is especially acute.

The Collared Owlet is a small bird, about 16-16.5 cm high. It has a rounded head, somewhat large for the size of the body. It is reported to have a staring ‘dorsal face’ on the nape, although this has not been captured in the images.

This owlet is nocturnal and crepuscular, meaning that it is active at night as well as during twilight and just before dawn. However, it often forages during the day.

Images courtesy of Nelson Khor.

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

Roger Deng was also around the rocky islets off the northern shore of mainland Singapore where breeding Black-naped Terns (Sterna sumatrana) were confronting an intruding Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) that April 2008 morning, posted earlier by Lee Tiah Khee.

It is well known that nesting birds, especially with young, will attack intruders. Smaller birds have been known to attack larger birds, including raptors. And terns are no exception. They mobbed the heron as soon as it flew near the colony. And despite the large size of the intruder, the terns were relentless in their mobbing.

There were other photographers as well, a number of whom posted impressive images of the confrontation on NaturePixel.org forum .

However, Roger was apparently the only one who managed to document something the others missed. He photographed the terns employing their secret weapon in their attempt at driving the heron away.

Look carefully at the image above. There are four terns mobbing the heron. Three of the terns have discharged a liquid-like substance, appearing in the image as three series of droplets, one of which landed on the heron’s head. Apparently, some birds like herons, gulls and vultures vomit unpleasant substances in self-defense (Podulka, 2004). But there is no mention of terns, so can this be the first record? This vomit, an oily mix of flesh and fluid that they regurgitate to feed their young, is reported to be foul-smelling. It is used to repel potential predators that approach their nests. The vomit may even be acidic, that can have an effect on the feathers and possible the eyes of the victim.

Can the liquid raining down on the herons be excrement? The action was too fast and the distance a little too far for Roger to confirm whether the liquid came from the anterior or the posterior end of the bird. But is there and instances of birds using excrement for defence?

The relentless attack finally forced the intruding heron to retreat (above).

Reference:
Podulka, S. (2004). Defense bahaviour. Pp. 6.52-6.56 in: Podulka, S., Rohrbaugh, R.W. Jr & Bonney, R. eds. Handbook of bird biology. Ithaca, NY: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

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