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.

“Was very kindly alerted by Chiu that there were three Black Baza ( Aviceda leuphotes ) at the Chinese cemetery near my home yesterday. So early this morning, at the tail end of our usually cycling, my wife and I passed that location to check it out. Found a lone Black Baza at edge of another Chinese cemetery 1.5 km from the site mentioned above. Rushed home and got my gear. It was still there but lighting was poor (about 7.45 am, cloudy).

“The Black Baza was quite compliant for some pictures and then it flew deeper in. I followed into the cemetery (overgrown) and saw it land on a tree with more than 30 Black Bazas. The above picture shows 23 birds among the Golden Shower trees (Cassia fistula). At this time I was overrun by a swarm of mosquitoes and returned to my car to get some repellent. When I returned they had flown even deeper into the cemetery. I drove around the margins of the cemetery and spotted them again and got some pictures from a distance.

“I managed to get the cemetery caretaker to let me in from the front entrance after explaining what I was about. However in his excitement at seeing a flock of raptors he startled them.

“It was quite an awesome sight to see more than 30 (my estimate 32-35) Black Bazas fly close overhead. I wish I had a 35 mm lens to catch the sight!

“They flew in the direction of the golf course and I spent the next 1.5 hours trying to locate them by driving around the margins of the course, but could not – the first time I regret not being a member of the golf club.

“Migratory parties locally are noted to be 3-10 in size, with up to 20 noted (Wells 1999). This is an unusually large group.”

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh City, Perak, Malaysia
20th December 2009

Comment by Avril McLeod: “This reminds me of an influx of Black Baza recorded from Tambun Height between 6th Jan to 28th March 2002, reported by me in various emailed updates at the time.. Unfortunately, my computer was out of action with a particularly nasty virus around mid-end of March 2002, so I am not sure of the date of the last report. However, the highest number recorded was on March 23rd at 13.45 hours when a staggering +/-150 were seen circling over the garden and adjacent area before gaining height and moving on. The final date was March 28th with a further 27 having been recorded. In 2003 between 29th Jan and 3rd March numbers were reduced and the final total was 141. Sadly, nowadays, I see very few, if any, Black Baza in this area, along with a several other species which seem to have disappeared from the scene. Habitat-wise nothing has changed.”

Reference:
Wells, D.R., 1999. The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. I, Non-passerines. Academic Press, London. 648 pp.

“It has been a better migration year compared to last few years, with more Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica gutturalis) and more first winter/juveniles seen. This group comprised approximately 150-160 birds, with 10-15% first winter/juveniles. They were preening mid-morning after feeding.

“Still a far cry from when I first came to this region (Perak) in the early 1980’s when we used to see thousands of these on electrical wires in Ipoh City. You had to be very careful where you parked when you went out at night to eat or else your car could get completely splattered by…

“The image at the top shows the swallows loading on a wire, sitting close to each other. That above shows a first winter/juvenile bird”

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
15th November 2009