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The Birds of Singapore – an online book
In May 1943, GC Madoc published “An Introduction to Malayan Birds.” He wrote his manuscript in Singapore’s Changi Prison where he was interned when the country fell into the...
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Videocam: A powerful tool for studying birds
1. Collecting birds: In the 19th century the equipment needed to study birds was the gun. Another skill necessary was a good stuffing technique in order to preserve the specimens....
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Documenting bird calls and songs
Many local birdwatchers are able to recognise the birds behind the songs. However, interest in most cases ends there except for a few who make basic recordings. Erik Mobrand...
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Should attempts be made to tame wild birds?
The first part of the series by aviculturist Lee Chiu San deals with whether birds can be tamed and whether they will remain tamed. The second part looks at whether it is...
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Postings your observations and images
Why should you post your observations and images? Southeast Asian birds are poorly studied in terms of behaviour and ecology. By posting your observations (and this include...
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Nature Society: The struggle for Singapore’s nature areas
The above paper has just been published. Nature in Singapore is a peer-reviewed, online journal that publishes articles on the flora and fauna (e.g., biology, botany, zoology,...
Greater Flamingoes
Chan Yoke Meng had the opportunity to observe the small colony of captive Greater Flamingoes (Phoenicopterus rubber), also known as Caribbean Flamingoes, at the Jurong Bird Park between December 2003 and January 2004. He witnessed and recorded on film the hatching of one egg and how the parent birds fed the chick.There were three nests, each a small mound of earth with a shallow depression at the top. On each of the nests was a single egg. The egg in one nest hatched on 1st... Read More
Long-tailed Parakeet and yellow simpoh
The yellow simpoh (Dillenia suffruticosa) is a common shrub of rural areas and secondary growths. The large leaves were once used to wrap food in wet markets. They are still being used to wrap tempeh, the slightly fermented soya bean cake used in local cooking.
The plant flowers throughout the year, putting forth its large and attractive yellow flowers found on long flowering stalks. Along each stalk usually only one flowering bud bursts open during the early hours of the... Read More
Practitioners of decoy
Recent nesting site discovery of the Blue-Winged Pitta (Pitta Moluccensis) in Ulu Paip, Kedah, puts it to be the third known location of breeding pittas in Malaysia – the other being, Langkawi Island and Taman Negara.
A 40 year old, relative to the fruit plantation owner remarked those colourful birds have been around since her childhood days! There had been previous nesting sites in different orchards but the families had in the past dismissed them as mere birds left to... Read More
What species of fish does the Little Tern take?
Birdwatchers are happy to just report that such and such a species of birds had been seen fishing. They are generally not interested in what species the birds take. You cannot blame them. After all birders are not biologists. And just catching a glimpse of a bird swooping down on a fish with the help of a pair of binoculars will not allow for the fish to be identified to specific or even generic level.
Not now. A growing band of bird photographers that has been roaming our... Read More
Status of the white-eyes in Singapore
Following the posting of the nesting of the Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus) by K.C. Tsang recently, Yong Ding Li sent in this report: “…appears that the Oriental White-eyes are fairly well established in Singapore in the form of feral populations and nowadays can be found in many housing estates. Might be wise to be very careful as far as identifying zosterops are concerned as at least four species of white-eyes have occurred in Singapore in a feral state,... Read More
Malaysian Plover: The cryptic chicks
The Malaysian Plovers (Charadrius peronii) nest along the open shore just above the high water mark. The nest is just a scrape on the ground and there is no vegetation to offer any protection. So how does it avoid detection from potential predators? Camouflage is the answer!
The brown, grey, blank and white plumage blends perfectly with the surroundings. The nest is not lined with any insulating plant material as this would make it conspicuous. Similarly the eggs are... Read More
Buffy Fish Owl: The big yawn
Connie Khoo of Ipoh, Malaysia came across a juvenile Buffy Fish Owl (Ketupa ketupu) at Kek Lok Tong in Ipoh, Perak recently. She was fascinated by the “yawning” behaviour of the bird and sent in this account to KC Tsang. Through the good office of KC, we got permission for this posting – on condition we include one of Connie’s cats.“This morning I went to check on the juvenile Buffy Fish Owl and saw that it was still on the same tree after fledging between... Read More
Encounters with the Red Junglefowl
In the 1990s I was a frequent visitor to Pulau Ubin, cycling around the island almost every weekend. There I had my first glimpse of the Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus). Back then I had thought nothing more of it than a mere chicken that looked ‘more kampung’ than those kampung chicken our Malay neighbours kept.
It was not until 1997 when I was there on an outward bound course that I saw a cock roosting on a tree that was about 30m high. I was wondering how the... Read More
An albino Collared Kingfisher
An earlier posting about albino birds and the pair of juvenile albino Javan Mynas (Acridotheres javanicus) seen at the Visitors Centre of the Singapore Botanic Gardens around May-June 2006 got the attention of Serene Tang who e-mailed me saying that her friend actually had an image of the bird. Peter Cheong then generously sent in his image that it is now incorporated into the original blog posting.
And now, James Heng has written in with his encounter in Johor,... Read More
Albino birds
Albino birds are rare but they do exist. This condition is the result of genetic mutation, whereby the pigment melanin is absent. And the absence of melanin means that the feathers are always white. In cases where some of the feathers are colored by a pigment other than melanin, areas of yellow or red are apparent.
Where all the normal feathers are replaced by white feathers, we have a totally albino bird. In this case the eyes, legs and bill will have a pinkish tinge as... Read More
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