http://besgroup.talfrynature.com Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:56:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Tan Teo Seng brought me what looked like a larger than usual munia’s nest (1, 2) on 7th July 2008. It had two entrances, one above, the other below. It was inadvertently cut off when his worker did some heavy pruning of his Duranta erecta shrub in his garden in ... http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/2008/07/24/a-pair-of-munias-nests-a-misadventure/ Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) is a colourful large bird common in freshwater wetlands of Singapore and Malaysia. The bird is predominantly vegetarian, eating a wide range of water plants: water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) (below top row: left & middle), water spangle (Salvinia molesta) (below top row: right), water lily (Nymphaea) ... http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/2008/07/23/purple-swamphen-eating-mollusc/ Towards the end of June 2008, Tan Teo Seng brought me two old and used nests of the Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus). I was interested in making a detailed study of these nests (left), namely the fibres and strips of leaves used and how these materials were put together. Madoc ... http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/2008/07/22/details-of-the-baya-weaver%e2%80%99s-nest/ The first thing that struck me when birding in Australia some years ago was the numerous species of aquatic birds that could easily be observed at ease at their rivers, ponds, lakes, swamps, rock edges, wetlands and seaside. It is simply too complex to describe the large family order ... http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/2008/07/21/rocky-life-on-the-aquatic-edge/ Allan Teo sent in an image of a pair of waders taken in India. Ong Tun Pin very kindly identified them to be non-breeding Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa). Allan thought the birds were fighting and he was right. They are usually peaceful, feeding as a flock. But as soon as ... http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/2008/07/20/black-tailed-godwit-in-mandibular-clash/ “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. ... http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/2008/07/19/white-bellied-sea-eagle-seized-frog-from-pond/ Lee Tiah Khee has been keeping watch on a pair of Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus) at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve since late May 2008 (above). In early June he documented the two adults taking turns incubating the three eggs (below). Then he returned to the site on 14th June. It ... http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/2008/07/18/red-wattled-lapwing-failed-nesting/