Avian video December 2019 - Long-tail Sibia feeding on juicy moth

A video shot of  our Long-tailed Sibia  feeding habit of the moths. It will peel off the dusty wings before devouring it. They prefer live moths and seldom touch on the dead remains.

April 2019 Avian Behavior - Ferruginous Partridge mating ritual

The female would purposely caress the male belly.

A pair of Ferruginous Partridge can out quite late in the morning then its usual time. Mating is in progress as the female kept cuddly aka  "manja-manja"  to the male and many occasion it will caress the belly of the male. Only one time I witness the male offering food and feeding its partner. It would be another 6-8 weeks before a new brood can be seen here. 

The pair stayed the longest time of more than 20 minutes at the port. Even when the Mountain Peacock came out to harass the pair' they did not budge from the spot. The peacocks are coming out separately and on long duration. I suspect nesting is in progress and within 3-4 weeks I will be happy to see their chicks coming out to feed. Keeping my finger crossed there will be half a dozen of them.

Mating ritual. The only shot for record.

The elder sibling teasing the younger one with food but never giving it 

 No migrant birds were around in the month of April. There are a few post-nesting activities that I sighted. The resident OMR have two fledglings which came out to feed together  at the port in late April 2019.

Meanwhile the resident Shama  also have an offspring which is quite self-dependent but the adult still feed it on one or two occasion during my encounter.

The juvi calling to be feed

The juvi Stripe-throated Bulbul (pinkish beak) with their fluffy coat still expect to be fed as they chase their parent around Bukit Tinggi.

Avian Behaviour - Feeding Habit of the Velvet-fronted nuthatch

 A couple of Velvet-fronted Nuthatch were sighted in a birdwave at Awana hunting for grubs amongst the many fern tree. They have an uncanny ability to search out the insects, pupa or caterpillars in the creavices of the tree trunk and underneath of leaves. As you notice they take all kind of grubs where ever they find them.

All the photos were shot using my Fuji  XT-2 & XF100-400mm lens. TV1/60 F5.6 ISO3200 Heavily cropped and processed from a distance of 40-60ft away. The AF of the camera managed to keep up with the bird's frantic feeding and movement. Tried to use my other camera Nikon P1000 but opportunity of sharp focus picture was near impossible.

This is my first time seeing this specie in the highland circa 500-600m ASL. The Blue Nuthatch is more common here in Awana.

This is the female without the postular line above its eyes

They are really acrobatic in nature and can climb upside down while feeding. They usually in a pair and when they have fledglings they would feed together for quite a period in matter of months before being harrassed to leave.

The Male got a spider 

This the male

The ritual of the male offering of  catch to its mate was also observed once or twice during my encounter. January onward is mating season?

Avian Behaviour - Crow harrassing Greater Spotted Eagle

I was on holiday with my In-laws from Sabah in Melaka on 26.12.18. I took the early morning  hours to bird and test out my P1000.

Chance on this regular  winter visitor which was perched on a low lying tree in the midde of the padi field. It was about 500 ft or so from the track. There was no way for me to get closer.  All this photos are cropped at least 50% from the max out  zoom range of the Coolpix P1000. I have to do post editting to enhance the the hazy and wash up pictures though.

It is common whenever there are predator birds other birds will gang together to confront them especially tiny owlet. 

There were several crows harrassing the raptor The time was about 10am and there is not much breeze to entice the GSE to take flight. After about 10 minutes it decide to land on the thick undergrowth below and the  crow also left the scene satisfied that the raptor is no longer a threat I guess............

Avian Behaviour October 2018 - Mating season in Lanchang

The mating season have officially started I guess in peninsula. In Lanchang many of the birds were pairing up and feeding together. The black-capped pair were very active feeding together. I witness several occasion the male will feed its mate. The female is a duller grey capped I suppose......







Then they is another pair of  Grey-cheeked bulbuls feeding together and rather intimate. No feeding offer was seen though

The other Babbler are the  regular Ferrugious which one of them will pick up the grub and flew into the undergrowth...probably to offer to its mate.

The single birds I saw include the male Diard's Trogon with its amorous call which I think is looking for a mate in the vicinity. It call out loudly at first. Since there is no new sighting I came out from the port to look for it and  hunt any lifers at the road side. Then while strolling along  I look backward at the calling trogon it was perch 30 ft from me at a low branch.  Lucky me.

 a lonely Yellow-bellied Bulbul

Yellow-eared Spiderhunter

Hairy-backed

I though it it was a new bulbul with its white eye-ring and greyish head (picture below).  It is actually a juvenile Spectacled Bulbul. The eyering will turn yellow as it mature.

A pair of Short-tailed was also seen but come out at different spot

The orange fruiting tree after Deerland attracted many bulbuls like the black-headed, red-eyed etc

Avian Behavior September 2018 - Crested Goshawk feeding on its prey

Sighted in Malim Nawar Perak ; this common raptor caught a snake and was feeding without much concern of my present. It was about 60 ft away high on the tree. Reptiles and small rodent are their preferred choice as they are easy catch in the open unlike birds and squirrels.

Usually it will attack the head first to kill it and slowly feast on the meat.

Later  I cross over to Kinta Sanctuary side and again sighted another Crested Goshawk which also caught a reptile whether its the same bird I am not sure. It was about 1.5-2 km from the first sighting. Food is abundant here for raptor and owl to hunt. The bird was  at eye level on a horizontal tree trunk about 60-70 ft off the laterite road. I was shooting to the left  of the driver seat without my bean bag. After getting some handheld shots  I started my car to turn around so that I can shoot from the driver seat but  it flew off into the undergrowth with its prey...............sad.

Avian Behaviour - Mating ritual of the Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush

There were these pair of CCL which were picking up the mealworms in the bunch and feeding to its mate. I do not think they are fledgings. Usually the fledglings will flutter their wings and giving out call to their parents to feed them or even chase them around. What I saw is that the mate just wait around patiently  for the male to feed it.............but then this is not period of breeding I wonder. Even the Niltava are not feeding their fledging at the same port and the latter is forced to feed on their own.