Azmi Mohamed was at the Singapore Botanical Gardens on the morning of the 26th February 2006 when he came across the Little Heron (Butorides striatus) doing an unusual thing. “It was picking up pieces of bread and dropping the bread into the water. It appeared to be trying to lure fish within range for it [...]
Read MoreArchive for March, 2006
Mixed marriages in birds
Ilsa Sharp from Perth, Western Australia, wrote on 21st February 2006: “I would like to ask whether anybody has encountered any ‘inter-racial marriages’ between different species of birds in Singapore, articularly between newcomer aliens and indigenous residents – and if so, are the offspring automatically infertile? “This thought came to me because I was birding [...]
Read MoreLittle Grebe: Going out with a fight
“On December 12th, 2005, as I was leading my American clients on a birding tour at Serangoon (Sewage Works), we stopped to observe an adult Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis). Suddenly, another adult swam into view with two juveniles in tow, much to my excitement. There has been only three adult grebes left here and so [...]
Read MoreHornbill Project Singapore
The Hornbill Project Singapore is the brainchild of French naturalist, Marc Cremades of the Winged Migration fame. The ides came two years ago when he visited Pulau Ubin with long-time local birder, Prof Ng Soon Chye. Much is known about these large and wonderful birds but relatively little is known about the breeding behaviour. We [...]
Read MoreForensic birding 3: Pellets
A few weeks ago I picked up a small, 14 x 14 mm piece of dry, compressed pellet on my driveway. On examining it under the hand lens, I found that it was composed of short pieces of fibres, a few sand grains, pieces of what looked like coloured palm fruit skin and other unidentified [...]
Read MoreThe cat and the Cinnamon Bittern
Seiko Okajima reported an early morning intruder to her house at Opera Estate in February 2006 thus: “My cat brought in this bird to my house early this morning around 1:00am of Feb 3, 2006. This young bird was not harmed and later flew away safely, but lost some feathers taken by my cat. My [...]
Read MoreOriental Pied Hornbills in urban Singapore
Once upon a time, there were three species of hornbills present in Singapore. However, due to rapid development and large-scale deforestation, all three species became extinct in the late 19th century. One species, the Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris convexus), has made a comeback. There are many of this bird in the offshore island of [...]
Read MorePink-necked Green Pigeons 4: The birds have flown the nest
The following information comes from observations conducted in February 2005 on a nesting pair of Pink-necked Green Pigeons (Treron vernans) in my garden (see 1 and 2). It is reported here to provide conclusion to the series. Egg incubation took 17 days. The newly hatched nestling was near-naked, sparsely covered with short pin feathers. The [...]
Read MoreIn and out of the Yellow-vented Bulbul’s nest
On 10th February 2006, five days before the writing of this entry, my parents noticed movements in our small chiku tree (Manilkara zapota). This tree is no more than 2 metres tall and is right next to the fence that separates my neighbour’s garden from mine. In my mother’s words: ” An olive bird with [...]
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