Sein-Chiong Chiu called Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS on 18th April 2010 to inform that he was caring for an injured Hooded Pitta (Pitta sordida cucullata).

Said Chiu, “Early this morning my neighbour passed me a dazed and stunned adult Hooded Pitta which he picked up in his garden. The bird probably flew into his window pane during migration. It was unable to fly and its head was hanging to one side when I placed it in the cage. When I came back from market 1.5 hours later it could fly around inside the cage. Will keep it overnight to allow it to rest and eat and will release it tomorrow morning. This is the third Hooded Pitta to be rescued over the years around Ipoh”.

Amar came over to Chiu’s place at lunch time with his wife to see the bird. It was alert and quite recovered. “Took some pictures though the bars (no flash used) just for documentation of plumage. Choose not to handle the bird as was distressed with approach,” added Amar.

The next day Chiu reported, “Happy to inform that after giving it a night’s rest, the release this morning was successful. The pitta flew to the golf course, will be suitable habitat for it as it will be able to find worms before continuing on it’s journey north.”

The rescue was in the Malaysian city of Ipoh in the state of Perak.

Image by Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS.

On 18th April 2010 Joyce Tan saw a Hooded Pitta (Pitta sordida) in her backyard at Singapore’s Serangoon Gardens, not once but twice in the same day.

“My maid Orpa was sweeping the leaves and fallen starfruits this morning - at about 8 am. She was startled by something brightly colored that swooped past her. It must have almost touched her. She saw that it was a colorful bird that landed on the ground. The bird hopped and flew to a corner of the backyard, and hopped and flew back to where she was. …it ‘ran’ into a frosted glass ‘tunnel’ and out the other end - a discarded wall lamp. Then it hopped and scampered to another part of the backyard where there are shrubs, before flying off. Altogether it must have stayed around for 1-2 minutes. She recognised the bird at once when I showed her the photos that I took this afternoon.”

Quipped KC Tsang, “I am just wondering if global warming had anything to do with this, as the bird should have gone home by now.”

The Hooded Pitta is an uncommon winter visitor and passage migrant to Singapore. It arrives from November, peaking in December, with a few around until early May.

Image by Joyce Tan.

An Oriental Honey-buzzard (Pernis ptilorhyncus) first visited KC Tsang’s home in March 2008. The raptor then peeped into his kitchen window.

In July 2009 the raptor made its presence felt when it was mobbed by House Crows (Corvus splendens) and Black-naped Orioles (Oriolus chinensis) while perching on the roof of the building opposite KC’s home. And in November 2009 the raptor was again peeping into KC’s kitchen window.

Its latest visits to KC’s Simon Lane’s home were in February 2010. The image on the left was taken at 0815 hours on the 4th. The raptor’s latest return visit was on the 11th.

It would be interesting to find out whether it is the same bird that paid KS these visits through the years. We would be monitoring future visits…

The recent sighting of the Masked Finfoot (Heliopais personata) in Singapore has generated numerous of images, mostly portrait shots but there are behaviour shots as well.

The Masked Finfoot is adapted for an aquatic habitat but this does not mean that it is clumsy on land. On land it can run fast and even clamber into trees, moving around the branches with agility. This is made possible by the feet that are not fully webbed. Like in coots and grebes, the feet are lobed. This enables the finfoot to propel itself in water, yet do not encumber them on land. And also allows it to move into trees, not an easy task should the feet be fully webbed.

So far, two photographers, Dr Eric Tan (above) and Calvin Chang (below) have managed to capture images of the finfoot’s feet. The legs and feet are bright pea green and yellow. This is also the case with the two other species: the African Finfoot (Podica senegalensis) has bright yellow or salmon red legs and feet while the Sungrebe (Heliornis fulica) has yellow feet and black banded and striped legs.

As the coloured legs and feet do not have a role in courtship or other behavioural displays, it has been speculated that such colours may help deter some underwater predators from attacking the finfoot while it is in the water. After all, yellow-and-black-stripes is classic warning colour combination in nature as seen in wasps, snakes and caterpillars.

Images by Dr Eric Tan (top) and Calvin Chang (bottom)

Reference:
Bertram, B. C. R., 1996. Family Heliornithidae (Finfoots). In del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.), Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. Pp. 210-217.

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

A Masked Finfoot (Heliopais personata) was sighted in Singapore’s Upper Seletar Resevior in early January 2010. The bird is an extremely rare, non-breeding visitor and obviously everyone was excited. Unlike local twitchers who were only interested in just a look in order to make a tick on their checklist, photographers made repeat visits. The latter were interested in getting images of the bird doing more than just swimming in the water.

And a few photographers did succeed in observing the finfoot’s behaviour. KC Tsang noticed the bird foraging among the plants around the edge of the water, possibly looking for insects. When it swam close by a huge monitor lizard (above), there was no fear. Did the bird sense that the lizard was harmless or was it not familiar with such lizards from where it came from? The bird even swam slowly after the lizard, following slowly behind. Johnny Wee was amused that the bird and the lizard simply looked at each other, “not knowing what to do.” Mark Chua on the other hand documented the bird with a water snail in its bill (below) while David Tan photographed the bird with a small fish.

The Masked Finfoot was sighted as early as 1995 but in the absence of detailed information the sightings have never been officially recognised. Photographic evidence was finally obtained in 2002 at Upper Seletar. Now, eight years later, another sightings is being reported. This time around, there are more than enough photographic evidence, considering that there were many photographers at the scene.

This species is globally VULNERABLE as the population is estimated at less than 10,000 birds. Its habitats include reservoirs, streams, slow-flowing rivers, mangroves and coastal areas. The fast disappearance of such habitats has obviously seen to the decline of the population.

The Masked Finfoot is thinly distributed mainly from Bangladesh and NE India (Assam) through Myanmar and Thailand to Cambodia and Vietnam. Its status in Thailand, usually considered as resident, might well be uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor. In Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra, its status is still uncertain. However, recent evidence suggests that there is a possibility of breeding in both these areas. The fact is that records are few and far between and more observations need to be documented.

All evidence points to the species being essentially sedentary. There is no evidence of regular migration. The occasional appearance of the bird outside its normal range obviously points to the fact there is limited movements.

Information of behaviour is just as lacking. It is generally known that the bird feeds on aquatic insects, crustaceans, molluscs, small fish, frogs and water weeds. Again, details are lacking. Breeding behaviour is poorly known. The shyness of the bird and its secretive habits make observations extremely difficult

Top image by KC Tsang; bottom image by Mark Chua.

References:
1. Bertram, B. C. R., 1996. Family Heliornithidae (Finfoots). In del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.), Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. Pp. 210-217.
2. Wang, L.K. & C. J. Hails, 2007. An annotated checklist of birds of Si ngapore. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 15: 1-179.