Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS documented a pair of Spotted Doves (Streptopelia chinensis tigrina) building their nest near his home in Ipoh City, Perak, Malaysia on 1st May 2010.

The nest was built 4-5 metres up in a Chinese juniper (Juniperus chinensis) tree, well hidden inside the dense crown.

One of the adults would get the material from the ground below the tree. Instead of flying directly to the nesting site, it flew to a nearby electrical cable to check on the presence of potential predators (below left) before flying to the nest site (above). It passed on the material to its mate hidden among the foliage and immediately flew out of the site (below right), leaving its mate to continue with nest construction.

With most doves and pigeons, the male sources out the material while the female builds the nest. It is thus assumed that this is the case here as the sexes are not distinguishable from the plumage.

The 15 year old, 8 m high albizia tree (Paraserianthes falcataria) on the grounds of Sun Chong Hong’s condo has been the nesting site for many generations of Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala indica).

“Recently, there were nesting activities again. On 12 Apr I saw a new nesting hole with a barbet at the entrance. To record progress, I used my camera on tripod placed near the nest, recording whatever activities around the nest hole between 9.30 to10 am daily. This was the best time in terms of lighting condition, weather permitting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqJ70pGPlxg

“From the videos, I saw the growth of the chick from waiting to be fed to aggressively grabbing food and pecking of adults’ body when the parents arrived. The chick’s call, which I have never heard before, was recorded right before my eyes when I saw its throat pulsating in tandem with the sound. Before that, I thought it was made by an unknown bird in the vicinity. There were other interesting episodes, such as the appearance of starlings, pigeon, lizards and flies on the scene. Feeding sessions were fast and furious, mostly completed in matter of seconds. But in one unusual one, it took almost two minutes. It appeared that the fruit being fed to the chick was quite big and the adult wanted to make sure that it was positioned properly close to the chick’s throat before releasing it.

“I have edited the videos, recorded between 12 Apr and 19 Jun this year, to make a complete nesting story of the Coppersmith Barbet. This is an amateur’s attempt to do a National Geographic.You are cordially invited to view the nesting story, split into two parts because of the length,

“The story was edited with videos taken between 12 Apr and 19 Jun 2010, almost daily around 9.30 to 10 am, weather permitting and when the lighting was most favourable.

Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=R65ztRR8Fck&feature=channel

“The chick grows healthily and appears to be ready to leave the nest …

“There was one observation not recorded in the video. I saw wood chips on the ground below the tree even as the chick grew. This led me to think that the barbets continued to enlarge the nest as the chick/s grew. However, later on I noticed that the Asian Glossy Starlings were at the rotting sections of this tree looking for parasites. They were chipping away the wood.

“There is a free multimedia player, namely vlc player, which enables video to be watched in slow motion, down to 1/4 speed or even screen by screen. With this player, you can download the Youtube video and watch the feedings in slow motion.

“PS This tree was featured in my earlier video on Asian Glossy Starlings catching alate termites/ants.”

Sun Chong Hong
23rd July 2010

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS returned to the nesting Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis malaya) site near Canning Garden Home, Ipoh City, Perak, Malaysia on 2nd June 2010 to review the situation.

He found another pair of Zitting Cisticola with chicks but failed to locate the nest. However, he saw an adult delivering food. In one instance when he got too close to the adult, it chose to eat the grasshopper rather than lead him to the nest.

“I have long searched for the nest of the Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis malaya). On Saturday [29th May 2010], by chance, found one less than 600 meters from my home. This is a large field of Imperata cylindrical grass (awaiting housing development).

“The Zitting Cisticola nest is called the ‘luck bird’s nest’. According to G C Madoc (An Introduction to Malayan Birds, 1956), my ‘sifu’ in bird behaviour: ‘…. placed in the middle of a meadow, it is very difficult to find. I believe that this may be the lucky bird’s nest mentioned by Winstedt in Sharma, Saiva & Sufi. The author describes how a pawang (Malay medicine man) taking the soul of the rice, may choose ears from stalks with a lucky bird’s nest at the foot.’

“I consider myself very ‘lucky’ to have found it, but the credit must really go to a friendship that exposed this nest to me. I happened to be checking the environment around my home, so as to never to become blasé about what some call ‘common birds’.

“I walked far into this large field of Imperata cylindrical grass when I noticed a female Zitting Cisticola and a male Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris) (left). They were very closely associated and are, I subsequently discovered, nesting about 1 meter apart. When I chanced near their nests they both took off together to the same vantage point.

“Then returned to their nests when I was about 7-8 meters away. Because the Yellow-bellied Prinia was easier to spot, I was also able to locate the Zitting Cisticola deep in the tall grass.

“The Zitting Cisticola nest is extremely hard to spot. I obtained these pictures without touching the nest and used my camouflage cloth to rest on the grass and expose views. All measurements were made without touching. I had a quick look to make sure there were no eggs or young before proceeding. It was built 30 cm off the ground, the grass was about 85 cm tall. Nest height 9cm, width 5 cm, entrance 2.5×2.5 cm but irregular.

“The side view will show that the Zitting Cisticola combines some of the stalks of the Imperata cylindrical grass into the nest (above left). It is a very beautiful delicate nest, very much like a silk purse. The walls are thin and the opening smaller than the base. The interior picture is taken with flash and shows the delicate and intricate knitting – possibly grass, spider webs and cotton fibre (above right). The spiders have to learn a thing or two from these birds.”

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Near Canning Garden Home
Ipoh City, Perak, Malaysia
29th May 2010

For another perspective of the Zitting Cisticola’s nest, see HERE.

Olive-winged Bulbuls (Pycnonotus plumosus) are doing very well in Singapore, often seen along rainforest edges and young regenerating and scrubby growths.

They nest on trees and palms, even in hollows of dead palms. Nests are cup-shaped structures constructed from twigs, dried leaves, roots and lined with floss and grass. Two eggs are normally laid, with both chicks or only one fledging. Breeding details are scarce as birdwatchers are only interested in recording the sighting rather than making detailed observations. Photographers, interested in documenting the nesting, seldom take the trouble to recording the details. However, we have an earlier post on breeding details.

Myron Tay’s image of the Olive-winged Bulbul was photographed in Mandai, Singapore around June 2010. It shows an adult with two young chicks in the nest. Note the prominent pale flanges lining the mouth. Obviously the chicks have just been fed as otherewise they would be gaping widely. These chicks are a few days old, considering that the feathers are still unsheathed, being still in the “pin” stage.

When the picture was taken, feeding was in full-swing, with both parents busy bringing food back to the two chicks.

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