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Mountain Fulvetta eating a hopper?

on 29th August 2008

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Adrian Lim managed to few shots of the Mountain Fulvetta (Alcippe peracensis) having breakfast early one morning in May 2008. The insect it managed to capture appears to be a beetle. The bird behaves a little like a shrike in the way that it eats its prey, using its ‘claw’ to hold it.

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This shy montane forest babbler is a resident of Peninsular Malaysia. Like most babblers, they move in the lower levels of the forest and it is generally difficult to photograph them.

As with the Blue-winged Minla (Minla cyanouroptera), its food is poorly recorded except small berries and small caterpillars that were observed being fed to nestlings (Wells, 2007). Collar & Robson (2007) mention only “insects” as its food.

To a suggestion that the insect may be a beetle, Prof Cheong Loong Fah wrote: “I am not sure; I am more inclined to think that it is a hopper, because the antenna is not visible, and also the shape of the wing in the …picture (in that there is a bend in the interior margin to accommodate the scutellum?).

All images by Adrian Lim.

References:
1.
Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. (2007). Family Timaliidae (Babblers). Pp. 70-291 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chikadees. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.
2. Wells, D.R. (2007). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. II, Passerines. Christopher Helm, London.

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

If you like this post please tap on the Like button at the left bottom of page. Any views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors/contributors, and are not endorsed by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM, NUS) or its affiliated institutions. Readers are encouraged to use their discretion before making any decisions or judgements based on the information presented.

YC Wee

Dr Wee played a significant role as a green advocate in Singapore through his extensive involvement in various organizations and committees: as Secretary and Chairman for the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), and with the Nature Society (Singapore) as founding President (1978-1995). He has also served in the Nature Reserve Board (1987-1989), Nature Reserves Committee (1990-1996), National Council on the Environment/Singapore Environment Council (1992-1996), Work-Group on Nature Conservation (1992) and Inter-Varsity Council on the Environment (1995-1997). He is Patron of the Singapore Gardening Society and was appointed Honorary Museum Associate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) in 2012. In 2005, Dr Wee started the Bird Ecology Study Group. With more than 6,000 entries, the website has become a valuable resource consulted by students, birdwatchers and researchers locally and internationally. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not represent those of LKCNHM, the National University of Singapore or its affiliated institutions.

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