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.

Calvin Chang a.k.a deswitch photographed a male Blue-winged Leafbird (Chloropsis cochinchinensis) collecting nectar from the mistletoe, Macrosolen cochinchinensis from the Panti forest in neighbouring state of Johor in Malaysia.

An earlier post shows a Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot (Loriculus galgulus) collecting nectar and in the process helps in the pollination of this mistletoe.

The Blue-winged Leafbird is a generalist, feeding on arthropods, fruits and probably nectar. Here the bird is shown harvesting nectar from a tropical mistletoe plant.

Reference:
Wells, D. R. (2005). Family Chloropseidae (Leafbirds). Pp. 252-266 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D. A. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 10. Cucuoo-shrikes to Thrushes. Lynx Editions, Barcelona.

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

During the last few months, Singapore’s bird photographers have been documenting the arrivals of many rare winter visitors at the Bidadari Cemetery. This documentation was led by photographer-birder KC Tsang who kicked off with numerous sightings that inlcuded Black Bazas (Aviceda leuphotes); Narcondam Hornbill (Rhyticeros narcondami); Hooded Pittas (Pitta sordida); Grey Nightjar (Caprimulgus indicus); Eyebrowed Thrush (Turdus obscurus); Malayan Night Heron (Gorsachius melanolophus); among others.

The Bidadari Cemetery was opened in 1908 as a a multi-religious burial ground. It is located at the junction of Upper Serangoon Road and Upper Aljunied Road. However, under the Singapore Government’s 1998 Master Plan, the area was designated for high-density public housing and other facilities and was closed in 1972. Exhumation started in 2001 and completed in 2006. The area is strictly no more a cemetery now.

Lightly wooded with matured trees, the former cemetery has become a playground for photographers and birdwatchers.

Now why is Bidadari seeing so many birds recently? For one, the area was not that explored prior to KC’s series of sightings. The birds, including migrants, would have always been there, except that people were then busy congregating in Jurong.

Now that the area is park-like after the exhumation, more and more people are finding the area attractive. The tall, mature trees are overgrown with epiphytes and climbers. The old trees are not neatly pruned and parasitic mistletoes and epiphytic ferns and orchids are left to proliferate, unlike trees along roads. This helps increase the faunal biodiversity of the trees and in turn more attractive to birds.

The absence of a crowd, until now that is, has made Bidadari an ideal refuge for migrants (as well as residents), with plenty of food and minimum human disturbances.

Image by KC Tsang.

In my garden I only planted one tree, the exotic terap (Artocarpus odoratissimus). Some birds subsequently brought two umbrella trees (Schefflera actinophylla) that grew nearby. The crowns of the latter developed within the canopy of the terap.

Two butterfly plants, Bauhinia kockiana (below left) that grew along my fence and Bauhinia winitii introduced from Thailand (below middle), scrambled onto the terap tree. A white-stemmed button vine (Cissus hastate), again brought in by birds, grew and also scrambled all over the terap. I also grew a staghorn (Platycerium sp.) and pigeon orchid (Dendrobium cruminatum) on the trunk of the terap tree (below right).

So what have I? A mix of seven species, all growing together within and over the canopy of the terap tree, a seven-in-one tree, I call it (left).

Five of these are exotic species. Only the button vine and pigeon orchid are indigenous. What I need to do next is to introduce a strangling fig (Ficus sp.) and a mistletoe (Dendrophthoe pentandra, Macrosolen sp.) And maybe also a bird’s nest fern (Asplenium nidus).

Each species of plant has its very own complement of faunal species. Bringing the different plant species together increases the faunal biodiversity. Also, each plant has its own attraction for birds, be it in the flowers or fruits.

So I get a wide array of bird species visiting the terap tree… Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier), Banded Woodpecker (Picus miniaceus), Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea), Javan Mynas (Acridotheres javanicus) as well as Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) and Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker (Prionochilus percussus). When the white-stemmed button vine is in fruits, many birds visit to feast on them. These include Black-naped Oriole, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum), Yellow-vented Bulbul and Javan Myna.

Singapore’s Garden City tends to be lined with “neat” trees, each tree by itself with epiphytic and parasitic plants routinely removed. However, an exception has been made for the staghorn fern and pigeon orchid, but not for the strangling fig and mistletoes.

Allowing climbers, scramblers, strangling figs, epiphytes, semi-parasites, etc to proliferate together in one tree is good for the birds. We should try it in our parks, although it may look unruly along our roads.