Desmond Wong’s a.k.a des95446 image of a sub-adult Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis) shows the transitional plumage form. A juvenile has a head that is dull black with brown spots. And this is still apparent in this sub-adult. The wings of the juvenile have blackish bars but the bars have disappeared in this specimen. Again, the brownish bars of the tail feathers have all disappeared and the colour has changed from brown to black. Obviously moulting into an adult plumage has yet to be completed.

The image was taken at Janda Baik in the Malaysian state of Pahang in early October 2009.

According to Desmond, “I saw this sub-adult Greater Coucal trying to swallow a huge centipede. I was still in the car at that point in time. Did not manage to get out fast enough to set up my gear. Only managed to get a shot after it swallowed the centipede. Shot it hand-holding the 500mm.”

Image by Desmond Wong.

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

Following the trip report posted earlier, we give you the list of birds sighted by the team consisting of KC Tsang, Amy Tsang and Willie Kwek.

Appendix A: Birds Sighted (Note: Bird names with an asterisk indicate those that were more unusual for us).

25-27 & 30-31May 09: Sepilok Forest Edge Resort - garden/ lotus lake area
1. *Ruby Cheeked Sunbird (male & female)
2. Chestnut Munia (many on grass and nesting in small trees)
3. Tree Sparrows (as many as Ch Munias – has long tail)
4. Emerald Dove (1)
5. Crimson Sunbird (Saw 2 times, male & female)
6. Olive-Backed Sunbird (a few)
7. Yellow-Vented Bulbuls (several/2 juveniles sitting alongside)
8. Magpie Robin (several – adult and youngster)
9. Pied Fantail Flycatcher (one nest spotted)
10. Glossy Tree Starlings (several)
11. White-Bellied Sea Eagle 12. Brahminy Kite
13. Raffles Malkoha (male & female)
14. *Rufous-fronted Babbler (a few)
15. Plaintive Cuckoo (sighted & photographed; heard only on 30/5) (right)
16. Banded Bay Cuckoo (heard only?)
17. White-Collared Kingfisher
18. *Green Iora (2 outside ‘Agnes Keith’ chalet)
19. *Black and Red Broadbill (1 adult & one nest spotted)
20. Long-Tail Parakeet (several)
21. Pacific Swallow (several)
22. White-Breasted Waterhen (several in & abt Lotus pond)
23. Pink-Necked Pigeon (a few)
24. Jungle Crow (a few)
25. Rufous -Tailed Tailorbird
26. Large-Tailed Nightjar
27. Chestnut-Breasted Malkoha

26 May 09: Rainforest Discovery Centre
1. Pink-Necked Pigeon (a few)
2. Green Iora
3. Olive-Winged Bulbul
4. Yellow-Vented Bulbul
5. Bat Hawk (1 around the Hornbill Tower area )
6. *Scarlet-Rumped Trogon (along Kingfisher trail)
7. *Monarch Blue Flycatcher (along Kingfisher trail)
8. Little Spiderhunter (along Kingfisher trail)
9. Brahminy Kite
10. Hairy-Backed Bulbul (a few along Kingfisher trail)
11. Raffles Malkoha
12. Rufous-Tailed Tailor Bird
13. Magpie Robin
14. Pied Fantail Flycatcher (a few, one nesting by lake)
15. Changeable Hawk Eagle
16. White-Collared Kingfisher

27 May 09: Forest Edge Resort jungle trail
1. *Fluffy-Backed Tit-Babbler (a few)
2. *Black-Throated Babbler (Adult & Juvenile)
3. Little Spiderhunter
4. Pied Fantail Flycatcher
5. White-Breasted Waterhen
6. Plaintive Cuckoo (female & juvenile)
7. Greater Green Leafbird
8. Lesser Green Leafbird (male & female)
9. Rufous-Tailed Tailor Bird
10. Chestnut Munia
11. Tree Sparrow
12. White-Bellied Sea Eagle
13. Brahminy Kite
14. Olive-Winged Bulbul
15. White-Collared Kingfisher
16. Wreathed Hornbill (heard only)
17. Brown Hawk Owl (heard only)
18. Diard’s Trogon (heard only)
19. Ruby-Cheeked Sunbird (female only)
20. Yellow-Vented Bulbul
21. Magpie Robin
22. Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo (1 only)
23. Raffles Malkoha

Other interesting sightings
KC collected a lovely Argus Pheasant feather while on the jungle trail (left). Willie and Amy witnessed 2 leeches on a leaf entwining each other, which turned out to be the foreplay before the act of copulation and sperm transfer. Willie managed to photograph the foreplay activity of the leeches. Attached below for easy reference is an interesting piece about leeches taken from the Internet:

Leeches are hermaphrodites, meaning they are organisms that have both female and male reproductive organs (ovaries and testes respectively). They reproduce by reciprocal fertilization and sperm transfer occurs during copulation.The leech exercising the role of the male will grow a sperm sack near the end of their tail, and the leech playing the female will bite it off, thus reproducing. Similarly to the earthworms, leeches also use a clitellum to hold their eggs and secrete the cocoon.

During reproduction leeches utilize hyperdermic injection of their sperm. They use a spermatophore which is a structure containing the sperm. Once next to another leech, the two will line up with their
anterior side opposite the others posterior. The leech then shoots the spermatophore into the clitellur region of the opposing leech where its sperm will make its way to the female reproductive parts.

28 May 09: Kinabatangan Jungle Camp
We had a river boat cruise in the afternoon from 3.30-6.30pm and a night cruise from 8.30-10.30pm. Weather permitting, boat cruises in the day and night are the norm for stays at the camp.

PM cruise: For nearly all of the time, we explored the narrow inlet close by to our camp. Birdingwise, it was quite fruitful even though we could see the oil palm estate for some parts of the way.

1. Crested Serpent Eagle ( one seen sitting on wire pole at camp, and the other sighted on river boat cruise)
2. White-Crowned Sharma (a few sighted at camp site)
3. Chestnut-Winged Babbler
4. Pacific Swallow
5. Storm Stork #
6. White-Bellied Sea-Eagle
7. Brahminy Kite
8. Chestnut Munia
9. Black & Red Broadbill
10. Chestnut Breasted Malkoha
11. Blue-Eared Kingfisher
12. Brown Hawk Owl (heard only)
13. Malaysian Blue Flycatcher (female only)
14. Dollar Bird
15. Oriental Darter (several) (above)
16. Green Imperial Pigeon (several)
17. Lesser Fish-Eagle
18. Grey-Headed Fish-Eagle
19. Egret (small, median, large – frequently sighted on river banks)
20. Little Green Pigeon (several)
21. Stork-Billed Kingfisher
22. Blue-Crowned Hanging Parrot
23. Plaintive Cuckoo
24. Pied Hornbill
25. Wrinkled Hornbill (right)
26. Black Hornbill (Male & Juvenile) (above right)
27. Rhinocerous Hornbill
28. Blue-Throated Bee-Eater
29. Purple Heron (a few)
30. Black-Crowned Night Heron
31. Hill Mynah

# We first sighted 2 Storm Storks on a tree close by the main road which we traveled upon in our land journey to Kg Bilit.

Other sightings:
1 Black Squirrel with chestnut belly spotted at camp area before we
set off for the cruise.
2 A band of female Proboscis monkeys in a tree with young amongst
them.
3 One black/yellow banded Mangrove Snake spotted sleeping on a tree during our cruise.

Night cruise
Observations: All the birds were sleeping – some more soundly than others except for the owls. Our guide, Rusmil, went close enough to stroke one sleeping Blue-Eared Kingfisher which had its head tucked into its body. It seemed to be in a deep stupor, and whilst it lifted its head up after the stroking, it did not wake up and continued sleeping with its head facing upwards!
1. Blue-Eared Kingfisher (right)
2. Black & Red Broadbill (saw 3 birds snuggled together – our proximity disturbed them and they flew away; subsequently we saw another 3 more but these continued to sleep on happily)
3. Pied Fantail Flycatcher (fantail was closed in a straight and stiffened manner whilst the bird was sleeping)
4. Buffy Fish Owl (saw 2 and these were hunting; one was photographed with a half eaten rat in its talons)

Other sightings
Two estuarine crocodiles were sighted – one was a juvenile and the other was medium size.

29 May 09: Kinabatangan Jungle Camp, AM cruise:
Explored narrow inlet close by to our camp for the most part. 1 Lesser Fish Eagle
2 Wallace’s Hawk Eagle
3 Crested Serpent Eagle
4 Crested Goshawk
5 Changeable Hawk Eagle (heard only)
6 Oriental Darter (several)
7 Storm Storks (counted 7 for the morning) #
8 Asian Paradise Flycatcher (1 female)
9 Blue-Eared Kingfisher
10 Ruddy Kingfisher (heard only)
11 Stork-Billed Kingfisher
12 White-Chested Babblers (a few) (above right)
13 Monarch Blue Flycatcher (1)
14 Egret (small, median, large)
15 Hooded Pitta (heard) 16 White-Crowned Hornbill (heard only)
17 Pied Hornbill (several)
18 Wrinkled Hornbill (saw 2 of them)
19 Black Hornbill (several)
20 Common Cormorant (?)
21 Pacific Swallow
22 Green Imperial Pigeon
23 White Crowned Sharma (right)
24 Jungle Crow
25 Drongo Cuckoo
26 Black & Crimson Oriole
27 Black & Red Broadbill (heard only)
28 Dollar Bird (several)
29 Purple Heron

Animals sighted
1 40 Pygmy Elephants
2 1 large Gibbon
3 1 Bearded Pig (seemed quite light coloured)
4 1 Creamy Giant Squirrel

PM Cruise
We went to the Ox Bow lake area for the most part. Seemed to be less fruitful, birdingwise.
1 Bat Hawk (2 on tree with large nest )
2 Pied Hornbill ( several)
3 Rhinocerous Hornbill (1 only)
4 Black Hornbill
5 Wrinkled Hornbill
6 White-Fronted Falconet
7 Egret (small, median, large)
8 Chestnut Breasted Malkoha
9 Stork-Billed Kingfisher
10 Green Imperial Pigeon
11 Oriental Darter
12 Brahminy Kite
13 Dollar Bird
14 Woodpecker (very small – Grey-CappedWoodpecker?)
15 Woodpecker (larger size – could not identify as too far away)
16 Wallace’s Hawk Eagle
17 Pied Imperial Pigeon
18 Purple Heron

Animals sighted
1 Orang Utan (1 large male up in a big tree)
2 Proboscis Monkey (1 large male with his harem which included 6-7 females, plus 6 youngsters)
3 Pig-Tailed Macque (1 large one only – also on a tree)
4 Long-Tailed Macques (several)
5 Crocodile (1 only)

30 May 09: Kinabatangan Jungle Camp, AM Cruise
This final cruise for the trip was led by Robert Chong, who tried hard to show us the Ground Cuckoo through mimicking its call, but it was to no avail. The bird simply refused to show itself to us! We spent most of the time on a small tributary not far from Sukau Lodge, though earlier on we had also visited the inlet close to our camp. 1 Common Iora
2 White-Crowned Sharma
3 Oriental Darter
4 Lesser Fish Eagle
5 Pied Hornbill
6 Greater Coucal
7 Black Hornbill
8 Blue-Eared Kingfisher
9 Stork-Billed Kingfisher
10 Mangrove Blue Flycatcher
11 Malaysian Blue Flycatcher (heard only) (right)
12 White-Chested Babbler (heard only)
13 Black-Capped Babbler
14 Crested Fireback Pheasant
15 Scarlet-Rumped Trogon
16 Black & Yellow Broadbill
17 Black & Red Broadbill
18 Drongo Cuckoo
19 Bat Hawk (in flight – looks like bat man!)
20 Crested Serpent Eagle
21 Chestnut-Breasted Malkoha
22 Egret (small, median, large)
23 Striated Heron (one only)
24 Dark-Necked Tailor Bird
25 Blue-Eared Barbet (heard only)
26 Wood Swallow
27 Pacific Swallow
28 Chestnut Munia
29 Glossy Tree Starling
30 Spotted Dove
31 Jungle Crow
32 Grey-Cheeked Bulbul
33 Red-Eyed Bulbul
34 Striped Tit Babbler (heard only)
35 Hooded Pitta
36 Banded Bay Cuckoo
37 Dollar Bird
38 Purple Heron
39 Pied Fantail Flycatcher
40 Storm Stork (many seen on cruise on tree/in flight. We also had a close sighting of one small-sized solitary storm stork at our camp site. The camp cook fed the storm stork with some meat. The large Monitor lizards also came to look for food at the same time, and tried to steal from the Storm Stork’s share.)

Animals sighted
1 Wild Boar
2 Bearded Pig? (Very pink in colour though)
3 Black Squirrel
4 Proboscis Monkey
5 Long-Tailed Macque
6 Monitor Lizard

Insect Encounters - Butterflies, Moths, Dragonfly
1 Hawk Moth – Marumba Juvenus
2 Butterfly - Forest White (Udaiana cynis) Not uncommon pieridie at forest edge.
3 Butterfly – Clipper (Parthenos Sylvia)
4 Dragonfly – Gynacantha dohmi. Info from Luan Keng – “Until last year, this species was known to occur in Borneo, Java, Sumatra and the Phillippines only. Last year, they started recording it in Singapore, and found it was quite widespread in Singapore.”
5 We saw a few stick insects flying in the jungle when we were birding.

Lim Poh Bee was at Pulau Ubin and send in this piece: “Not too long ago someone reported a Lesser Coucal (Centropus bengalensis) spreading itself out on a road sunning and drying itself. Well, I think this is the more usual way of it drying itself after a morning downpour. We were out at Ubin and we saw at least four of them all puffed up and preening themselves (above). Unfortunately, the flight shots weren’t that successful (below). But the sheer numbers of them in the open were a treat in itself.”

While driving along a dirt road, Chris Lee a.k.a. chrisli023 came across a strange looking bird. It was simply sitting by the road with its feathers looking disheveled. He took out his trusty camera and recorded the sight. The bird just looked at him then calmly walked into the undergrowth.

The funny-looking bird was a Lesser Coucal (Centropus bengalensis), acting very unlike any coucal Chris is familiar with. On his drive back along the same road, he came across the same coucal sitting by the road. This time, it acted like any coucal would - it immediately ran into the bush.

Members of the cuckoo family (Cuculidae) that include malkohas and coucals, have delicate plumage that tends to get wet easily. Thus they need to dry their feathers by sunning themselves after rain or after foraging among wet vegetation. They usually dry themselves on a high perch with their wings spread and tail fanned and the back feathers raised to expose the skin to the sun.

Check out our earlier posts on the malkoha sunning HERE: 1, 2 and 3.

Reference:
Payne, R.B. (1997). Family Cuculidae (cucoos). Pp.508-607 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 4. Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.

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

“I was a resident on the lower slopes of Mount Faber facing the former World Trade Centre (Harbour Front) for the almost 20 years between 1979 and 1998, almost 20 years, in Marang Road near the Seah Im Food Centre and carpark. Now that I commute in and out of Singapore from my new base in Perth, Western Australia, I often stay with my friend in almost exactly the same location, at Seah Im Road. On my most recent visit, for the first three weeks of December 2008, I was struck by the fact that although bird life happily is still abundant on this well wooded hill park, its composition has changed quite dramatically from what I used to observe in the early 1980s, including the enhanced presence of several aliens! I’m open to correction on my observations below, as I am no ornithologist, but here they are, for what they are worth. It would be great to hear whether my observations tally with field surveys over recent years or not:

“For example, the two most dominant voices on the Mt Faber slopes now are those of the very visible White-crested Laughingthrush (Garrulax leucolophus) and of course, the now ubiquitous Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea), whereas back in the ‘80s they would have been the Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis – still heard, but much less frequently), and, interchangeably according to season, the White-throated and White-collared Kingfishers (Halcyon smyrnensis and H. Chloris - again, still heard, but less frequently).

“I don’t remember hearing or seeing the Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) on this trip at all, which is fairly incredible, as compared with its high audio-visibility in the ‘80s. But maybe I wasn’t paying proper attention!

“On this trip, December, I did not hear the ‘chonk chonk’ of the ‘Burong Kubor’, the Large-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus) at all, and the piping note of the tiny Collared Scops Owl (Otus bakkamoena) only once, whereas these birds provided constant nocturnal soundscapes in the ‘80s. Neither did I hear the bass ‘whoop-whoop-whoop’ of the Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis), another very common occurrence in the ‘80s.

“What I did see and hear, apart from the Laughingthrushes and Koels already mentioned, was white Cockatoos (seen and heard); the Hill Mynah (Gracula religiosa - heard); a Parakeet of some kind, probably the Long-tailed Parakeet (Psittacula Longicauda) (heard); and either a Long-tailed Parakeet or a Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus sp) (seen, but light was very bad).

“If indigenous forest birds like the parakeet and the Hill Mynah are moving into areas like Mt Faber, it would be interesting to understand why, although I do realise the southern coast is very much a smuggling and escapee route as well.

“I also did not hear the chuckles of the White-breasted Water-hen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) this time which was pretty strange too. I wonder if the area is drying up too much, if climate change is part of the problem?”

Ilsa Sharp
ilsa@iinet.net.au
Perth, Western Australia
Former Council member, Malayan Nature Society (both Malaysia and Singapore branches)”

R Subaraj, our bird specilist, has this to say:

“Ilsa’s… is spot on… the White-crested Laughingthrushes were absent at the Fabers until the 1990s. There were Hwamei (Garrulax canorus) and Greater Necklaced Laughingthrushes (Garrulax monileger) in small numbers but the White-cresteds have since spread very agressively and taken over. The Asian Koel was a mere migrant in the 1980s, initially only to offshore islands such as Sentosa, St Johns and Tekong, then subsequently in the 1990s, numbers increased on the mainland and they became resident, mainly due to healthy numbers of their main host….the House Crow (Corvus splendens). Today, they are one of the dominant sounds at dawn, throughout Singapore.

“She is also probably correct that waterhens decline as habitats become drier. The nightjar and owl have probably also declined a bit at Faber, though both should still be present. December is the non-breeding period so some residents are less vocal, if vocal at all. As for the Greater Coucal, the large cuckoo has definitely declined significantly in Singapore.

“Cockatoos were likely Tanimbars, as there is a healthy population at Sentosa and they are also found around Keppel. The Hill Myna is possibly an escapee as such escapees have been noted on both Sentosa and St Johns. Not sure which parakeet is there and it may not be the native Long-tailed Parakeet at all.”

Image of Mt Faber Park by YC.