Birding at Melaka World Heritage City

Ever since Melaka declared as UNESCO World Heritage City, the number of tourist have been steadily on the rise. Most tourist will only interested in the historical building/structure. In fact there are more things to see or do in this old city and all within the same area! Bird watching is one of them! All the photos in this post are taken within 50 meters radius from the A Farmosa. I arrived in the late evening and this is what I saw. Flocks & flocks of birds are roosting on the tree that just next to the Melaka river where tourist taking the river cruise. As it was dark, I decided to pay a visit the next morning & I only have about 1.5hours in the morning before joining my friends for breakfast and other activities.

This Common Mynah on the good vantage point enjoying the cool morning breeze.

There are lots of birds that feed on this fig tree that are fruiting, including these Javan Mynah.
White-Bellied Sea Eagle gracefully glide on top of me. Nice pair of Asian Glossy Starling Yellow Vented Bulbul A female Asian Koel that often heard their call than seeing them.
Little Heron is waiting for prey at the side of the river.
This is quite a huge bird that looks like a vulture - a bold Large Billed Crow. Not sure what happen to the feathers.

A pair of Thick-Billed Green Pigeon

Brahminy Kite

As with other urban area, this invasive species - Crow is every where.

How nice to be able to see this cute little Coppersmitch Barbet!

Oriental Magpie Robin, didn't give me a second to take a proper shot.

Black-Napped Oriole with the very bright yellow feathers.

Tree sparrow

Pink-Necked Green Pigeon is enjoying this big local fruit.

A pair of White-Throated Kingfisher

This 1.5 hours is really well spent! Birding in Melaka, why not!!

Rare Eyebrowed Thrush in Singapore

Although Singapore is 'summer' throughout the year (no seasonal change), however, it is worth to look out for rare birds that arrived from the north as far as Siberia! Migratory birds starts arriving from October and some will stay till April before returning to their place of origin. Eyebrowed Thrush (Turdus obscurus) is one of the many migratory birds that temporary stay in Singapore to avoid the harsh condition during winter.

You never know what you will find in the garden, they might be another rare visitors from the north.

Little Spiderhunter

Little Spiderhunter (Arachnothera longirostra) a very small birds that with very long beak that differentiate them from sunbirds. I have not been able to capture any photo or seen them hunting spiders and would love to see it some times.

The torch ginger flower as seen on the photo above is one of their main food source.

Asian Brown Flycatcher Feeding

Although they are called flycatcher, that doesn't means they will only catch flies and nothing else. This Asian Brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa dauurica) got a big prey, not a fly but a moth.
To stop the prey from struggling, the flycatcher hit it against the tree branch.

When the moth no longer move, the flycatcher put it down to take a rest.
It then move over to the other side, pick up the moth and realign it so that is easier to swallow.
Yes! It swallow the whole moth! Another satisfiying meal for this flycatcher.

Rufous Woodpecker's Tongue

I always wonder how exactly did the woodpecker get the insects out of tree branches. Did they really peck on the tree branches until the insects are exposed and then consume it?

Some of my doubts are answered when I got the chance upon a Rufous Woodpecker (Celeus brachyurus). The woodpecker start to peck on the branch and after a while, it uses the tongue to do the finishing kill.

This crack on the branch gave the woodpecker a easier meal.

No doubt that the tongue play a very important role in woodpeckers' feeding behavior. However, I still have no clue on how exactly did they use their tongue to catch their preys. Do they have a sticky tongue like the lizards and use it to 'stick' their preys?

Perhaps video recording will help...

**Thank you YC for the link... "The woodpecker’s tongue is its most important tool when probing for larvae. It is extremely long, has specialised muscles that enable the bird to extend and retract it with ease, and the tip is covered with backward-pointing barbs. At the same time there are glands that secrete a sticky fluid. All these adaptations allow the bird to locate larvae hidden inside rotten wood and once located, to extract them."

Asian Glossy Starling

Is not difficult to understand why they are called Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis). They usually move in flocks and and are very noisy.

Juvenile Asian glossy starling yet to moult to the glossy plumage.

This bird is in the midst of moulting and will eventually have the glossy plumage.
This is how it looks like from the back.Another bird that almost complete moulting to the glossy plumage.

Happy Moment Continues...

I went back to check on the happy grey heron family last week end and the chicks already fledged and able to look for food themselves. On and off they will still go back to their nest and waiting to be fed b their parents. The parents will continue to feed their chicks for another one to two weeks even after they fledged.
Look at this young grey heron already a fully grown adult! It was sun bathing while waiting for parents.

Another sibling back to the nest and join the wait.
After about 10 minutes, the mother heron came back with foods.The mother feed one at a time, both chicks got their fair share.

After the feeding, the mother heron leave the nest to hunt for food and leave the 2 chicks behind. What a beautiful & happy family.

Buffet Meal

We often see more food are wasted when they are serve in buffet style. The same thing happen to birds too!

This fig tree don't fruit everyday and every year when it fruits, it will attract lots of birds to feast on this rare opportunity - free meal and serve in buffet style!

This Pink-Necked Green Pigeon is having a hard time to choose which one to eat first!

It finally chosen a riped one red in colour.
Opppsss! miss it...is OK, there are lots more to choose!

The Ugly Duckling

The pair of black swan is now prod parents of four! Both parents are black, interestingly their chick is white!...

Rings on Blue-Tailed Bee-Eaters

Is the time of the year when migratory birds arrived from the north so as the Blue-Tailed Bee-Eater(Merops philippinus).

I saw a few of them this morning and what puzzle me was the rings on their wing. I can't find any info about the wing rings. I'm sure is for id purpose but usually the ringing are done on their leg instead of the wing. I took some of the photos when they fully extended their wings on flight. The feather arrangement seems affected by the ring.
Not too sure if their flight patterns affected as well? Anyone have any info about wing ringing?