Dr. Redzlan Abdul Rahman was having lunch one afternoon in July 2008 when he noticed a Black-thighed Falconet (Microhierax fringillarius) perched high up on the dead teak tree in his backyard (left).

As he was about to leave for work, he noticed the raptor had a prey in its clutches. At first he thought the prey was a Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) or even a Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum), as the latter was earlier photographed perching above the raptor.

He posted his images (1, 2) in a local photo-forum and members thought the prey could be a juvenile munia, a sunbird or even a flowerpecker, considering the slim legs. Or even a tailorbird.

The raptor was initially restless as it was being observed (below). It moved from branch to branch with its prey before settling down to eat it. Gripping the dead bird firmly in its claws, it held it against the branch to rip into the flesh with its powerful hooked bill. It appeared that the head was ripped off first, possibly after the neck was snapped by the initial attack.

The feeding lasted for at least 15 minutes whereby the prey was torn piece by piece. Unlike the Gold-Whiskered Barbet (Megalaima chrysopogon) he observed earlier feeding on a Eurasian Tree Sparrow whereby the prey had to be bashed against the branch to kill it, this time around he only saw a lifeless prey being dismembered.

jytou of PhotoMalaysia wrote: “…think it is a tailorbird as well…. the rump should be red or orange if it is a flowerpecker, also the brown coloration does not quite fit, the red on the head is likely flesh, most predators kill by bitting at their neck so they cant breath…” The images were sent to KC Tsang, our birder-photographer and he wrote, “This looks like a tailorbird, because of longish tail, and colour…”

“I have witnessed successful hunting of fish by two of our local eagles - the White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) (below left) at Jurong Lake and the Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) (below right) at East Coast.

“I noticed that while the White-bellied Sea Eagle has a rather gentle approach to catch its prey, the Brahminy Kite closed its wings and dived down to its prey. I was wondering whether they are the result of different conditions (gentle lake versus choppy sea) or different strategies for survival adopted by the two different eagles.

“I also noticed that they hunted when it was cooler i.e. when the sun is hidden by the clouds or when the storm clouds gather.

Myron Tay
July 2008

The image above (left) shows the immature Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) fitted with wing tag and satellite telemetry released on 10th May 2007 at Doi Lang, Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was photographed by Kanit Khanikul and made available to us through the good office of Dr Chaiyan Kasorndorkbua of Kasetsart University, Thailand.

Also released at the same time were four Himalayan Griffons (Gyps himalayensis).

It has since been reported by Dr Chaiyan, who oversaw the release, that the vulture was shot by a villager in Mynamar on July 2007.

The map above showing where vulture was released and where it was shot was provided by Allan Teo.

“Came across a White-bellied Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) snatching a frog from the surface of a pond at Bt Panjang area on 10th June 2008,” wrote Eddy Lee Kam Pang (above). This is a sequence to his encounter two months earlier with a sea-eagle catching a rat in a monsoon drain.

“This was my first time seeing such an action. A frog is surely not a regular prey item for this bird. Its usual diet consists mostly fishes, though I had seen this bird taking a rat previously in the same area.

“Was there a shortage of food source such as fish that drived this bird into hunting something else or was it purely by chance that the eagle spotted its easy target, need to be seen.

“The frog must had taken great risk swimming in the pond as there were other aquatc predators around, predators such as the Toman fish and Water Monitors formed part of the residents in the area as well.

“Whatever it was, we can safely add one more prey item to the eagle’s food source list.”

And as far as catching a rat is concerned, there was also a May 2006 post detailing the sea-eagle catching the rodent in the sea off the coast in Changi.

Dave Culley recently sent images of the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) nesting in his garden in Cheshire, England. He has been monitoring the pair for some time now. These images here are of the 2008 nesting.

The brood of five chicks is seen above at 12 days old. The other image (below) shows the female sheltering the chicks from the rain.

The female is just starting to hunt with the male, now that the chicks are older. Prior to this the male was hunting, bringing food to feed the female and the chicks.

The male is seen with his prey, preening himself after a bout of hunting (above).

Check out Dave’s webpage HERE.