“Tambun is a small town on the outskirts of Ipoh that has, in the past 10 years, been engulfed by the city. Now considered a suburban area with large properties and garden.

“Came across this sprawling Ficus benjamina that was fruiting extensively. Full of ‘common’ birds feeding together. There was some minor conflict, but generally enough food to keep everyone busy.

“I have grouped the birds seen over a two hour period into three groups as below:

“Birds seen feeding on Ficus benjamina ‘fruits’:
1. Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans): 4-6 (2-3 pairs) (above left).
2. Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis maculates): 10-12, 2-3 were juvenile feeding independently (above centre).
3. Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis strigata): a flock (more like a swarm) (above right).
4. Yellow Vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier analis): 6-8 (mostly adult pairs) (below left).
5. Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala indica): 4-5, 3 were juvenile feeding independently (below centre).
6. Lineated Barbet (Megalaima lineata hodgsoni): one pair.
7. Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius madoci) feeding on fallen ‘fruits’ – they forage on the ground and do not seem to pick ‘fruits’ off the tree.

“Birds suspected to feeding on Ficus benjamina ‘fruits’:
1. Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis tristis): one pair, seen checking out ‘fruits’ in tree, actual feeding not seen (above right).
2. Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica): one adult noted in tree but not seen feeding, flew off soon after I came.
3. Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata) – seen picking on old ‘fruits’ that had dropped on to the pavement below (below left).

“Birds using the Ficus benjamina ‘fruits’ feeding frenzy to get other animal prey:
1. Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia horizoptera) – one pair foraging for caterpillars (above centre).
2. Pied Triller (Lalage nigra striga) – one male foraging for animal prey (above right).”

[The above images show the Coppersmith Barbet's feeding behaviour - pecking off a piece from a fig and then taking the remainder between its mandibles to squash it before swallowing.]

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Tambun, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
16th May 2010

Syzygium polyanthum or salam is an excellent bird tree. When in fruits, the tree is invaded by numerous birds (above: Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Treron vernans) that come to feed on the small, rounded, red to purple-black single-seeded fruits (below right). In the process, the birds help disperse the seeds. Once upon a time, children used to love eating these sweetish fruits. The aromatic leaves are used in local cooking as a spice. Besides the leaves, the bark and roots have medicinal uses.

This is a medium-sized tree of about 30 metres tall that grows in secondary forests. They have since been planted along many roads during the latter years of Singapore’s Garden City campaign. Their presence has helped bring back wildlife to the urban areas. The small flowers are in loose bunches that arise from twigs behind the leaves (above left). Cream, turning pink or reddish with age, they are faintly fragrant.

Image of Pink-necked Green Pigeons by Chan Yoke Meng; those of flowers and fruits by YC Wee.

Reference:
Wee, Y. C. (2003). Tropical trees and shrubs - A selection for urban plantings. Sun Tree Pub., Singapore. 392pp.

Jeremy Lee, our birding-pilot, transited in Abu Dhabi recently and sent in this report:

“Taking a break in the cool hotel room from the afternoon heat in Abu Dhabi right now. I took a walk to the parks just opposite the hotels and next to the waterways (above).

“The parks department has done a good job with the open parks, they have invested good money in the design and setup. The lawns are covered with beautiful carpet grass and there are birds everywhere.

“Found Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) nesting in the palm trees and a pair of Red-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus cafer) patrolling their turf (below).

“It is interesting to note that these palm trees are very good nesting sites for several species of birds. A local dove and the sparrows can be seen nesting in the trees. I am sure the bulbuls are also using them, if not, then it will be the nicely manicured short ficus trees that provide a more discreet nesting site.

“We have brought butterflies back to the gardens in Singapore. Maybe it is time to bring some bulbuls back to the heart of the city. Maybe an isolated population at Raffles Place with sufficient breeding spots would help. It always reminds me of Kowloon Park in Hongkong where you hear lots of bulbuls calling in the morning and sometimes fighting and taking their fight right down to ground level at a pedestrian crossing bordering the park.

“The pictures attached show the palm trees and right next to the palm trees, there are some tall grasses. This is the perfect setting for enticing weaver nest building species to set up home.

“We have chased a lot of birds out of our own backyards in the last 20 years. Maybe with all the new park connectors, we may be able to bring them back into the heart of our housing estates and even down town.”

The Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus), once a common resident, is getting uncommon in Singapore. And possibly also in some of the surrounding countries. I used to have a few pairs always nesting in the eaves of my house but no more. They are seldom seen around my grden nowadays. The encounter below was made more than a year ago at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. I do not know whether these sparrows are still around there as I have yet to revisit the location.

Many evenings, around 0600 hours, a small flock of Eurasian Tree Sparrows would suddenly fly onto a small patch of ixora plants by Symphony Lake in the Singapore Botanical Gardens (above).

Each bird would pick a branch and perch at the top, some with bunches of flowers, others without. There, the bird would sit quietly, to sometimes preen or even feed on some insects or other that happen to be around (below). They would remain for five to ten minutes.

At times, there would be a second but smaller wave of sparrows. These birds would fly over those already there, to settle ahead. A few birds would fly off to settle further on in the patch. At other times ten or more birds would fly off to be replaced by others flying in.

Most times, the birds would allow me to get to within half a metre to observe.

These sparrows are used to be fed bread crumbs by visitors and such behaviour can be a response to expected feedings.

Then, just as suddenly, all the birds would fly off.

Top image by YC, bottom image by Melinda Chan.

The common mahang (Macaranga bancana) is a small to medium sized tree that grows up to 20 metres high (above left). The large leaves are characteristically three-lobed. At the base of each leaf stalk is a pair of dark purple stipules, on the undersurface of which are many white starch grains (above right, below left). These starch grains attract ants of the genus Crematogaster that bore into the hollow twigs and nest inside (below right). The ants bring in mealybugs into the hollow stem and regularly “milk” them for their sweet secretions. As repayment for shelter, the ants protect the plant from herbivores. Should you touch the stem tip, ants will emerge from inside the hollow stem through the tiny opening (below left, opening at top) to confront you.

The plant bears male and female flowers in different trees. Fruits are leathery shouldered capsules splitting into two-valved parts exposing black seeds covered with a thin orange to red aril. Birds are attracted to these fruits, so obviously the female trees will attract birds when they fruit.

This tree flourishes in full sun, starting life in young secondary forest and in open gaps in older forests. They are thus mostly found in disturbed forests, growing for about 20 years to slowly die out when the forest matures.

It is strange that local birdwatchers seldom, if at all, encounter a fruiting Macarange bancana tree covered with birds. Over the causeway in the Malaysian state of Perak, Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS has recently documented sunbirds, spiderhunters, bulbuls and an iora and flycatchers feasting on the fruits during the short period the tree was fruiting.

This is obviously an excellent bird tree for parks, open grounds and large gardens. But they have yet to be introduced into the urban environment, at least not in Singapore.

Images: Top left (Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS), top right and bottom right (YC Wee) and bottom left (Johnny Wee).

Note: Macaranga bancana has long been wrongly referred to as M. triloba. We wish to thank Chua Yen Kheng for alerting us on the error and Prof. Hugh Tan for his confirmation on the correct name of the plant.