Oriental Pied Hornbill Picky About Snail

While on my way to Hide 1D from the Main Bridge of SBWR, spotted this Oriental Pied Hornbill caught an african snail. Like other hornbill, as their bill is much longer than other birds they can't manipulate their food with their tounge. So they have to toss the food caught directly to their throat.

Seeing an Oriental Pied Hornbilll on the ground is uncommon and getting to see this male hornbill catch the prey on the ground is even epic.

After the 1st toss, the hornbill manage to move the snail to the middle of his bill.

The hornbill continue to jerk his head and move the snail further in.

The hornbill crushed the shell of the snail in the process. Not sure if this is by purpose to de-shell it or accidentally.

The hornbill repeat the tossing process with the half 'naked' snail.

The hornbill miss the snail and fell off it's grip.

The hornbill pick it up again and I didn't realise is the different snail until I take a closer look while processing the photos.

This time round, the hornbill decided to go somewhere else to enjoy his meal lead me one big question unanswered. Is the hornbill dropped the half 'naked' snail by purpose or accidentally. Could it be the hornbill become picky when the food is abundant?

Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker robs too??

Sunda pygmy woodpecker (Dendrocopos moluccensis) usually feed on small insects, caterpillar & worms. However, they feed on nectar too! The woodpecker go straight to the base of the flower to collect the nectar.

 I seen sunbird did that and I blog about it before too.

Do Sunda pygmy woodpecker do that often? Hmmm....



No. The woodpecker don't robs! In fact, it helps to pollinate the flowers! Read about it at: http://www.besgroup.org/2013/03/24/sunda-pygmy-woodpecker-collecting-nectar-from-flowers-of-erythrina-sp/

Black Baza & The Praying Mantis

The Black Baza (Aviceda leuphotes) is one of the common winter visitor that can be found in open country and wooded areas.

They are usually found in small flock and fly from tree to tree, they usually stays on top of the tree and I hardly see them stay at one tree for longer than 3 minutes. According to "Singapore Biodiversity", Black Baza feeds mostly on insects, especially beetles. I have never been able to see or photograph feeding Black Baza until last Sunday at Bidadari.  

For the first time, I managed to get close to this bird to see what this bird is hunting & consume it. It was a huge Praying Mantis!

Their feeding behaviour very similar to other smaller birds, they bite off the head of their prey before consume the rest of their prey.

Stork-billed Kingfisher Swallow Big Fish

Saw this Stork-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) caught a big fish and swallow it in one gulp!

Feeding Asian Paradise Flycatcher

Last quarter is always the best time to go birding in Singapore. On top of native birds, there are lots of migratory birds that will arrived from the north to avoid the cold winter. Asian Paradise flycatcher is one of them.

Asian Paradise Flycatcher is one of the many birds that I like to see it in the wild. This year must be my lucky year, I have seen quite a number of them and even have the opportunity to learn more about their feeding behavior. I'm so happy that I saw this flycatcher just caught a cicada! The flycatcher is trying to align the cicada so that it can swallow it.

Perhaps the cicada is consider too big? The flycatcher transfer the cicada to the claw.
The flycatcher then start by biting off the head of the cicada.
Instead of taking the whole prey at one go, the flycatcher taking this cicada bit by bit.
The flycatcher now hold the half eaten cicada with its beak.
With one gulp, the half eaten cicada go down the flycatcher throat.
Is quite unusual for flycatcher to have this feeding behavior. They do not have strong & big talon to hold their prey & they also do not have curved or hook-like bill to tear their prey. Nevertheless, is an fantastic experience to be able to know more about this beautiful bird. This flycatcher continue to perch there for me to take more shots before flew off. What a satisfying birding trip for me! :)

Mothers Day Special

Next week is Mothers Day! As promised, I prepared a video compilation as a tribute to all mothers.

Mothers Day Special (Ode to the birds) from Samson Tan on Vimeo.

Photos selected are all from nestling, breeding, feeding & fledging photos. These chicks stand no chance without the caring mothers!

Most photos are taken in Singapore, if you are looking for new birding destination, Singapore is not a bad idea!!

Mothers' Day Coming...

With May just around the corner, most birds here would have breed & fledged by now. Is not difficult to spot some exciting shots of feeding, fledging just about anywhere you go. Be it at your neighbourhood park or nature reserves.


A feeding dove

The chick just fledged and was closely watched/escorted by mother bird.


Another feeding pair...

Since Mother's Day coming... I'll do a Mother's Day Special in next update. So, stay tune!

Breeding of Straw-Headed Bulbul

Straw-headed bulbul is a shy bird and very often heard than seen. It is also a popular cage bird due to its very nice call. Saw this nest at central of Singapore 2 weeks ago and was waiting for the chicks to fledge. It was empty this morning and a search confirmed that the chicks had fledged!

The feeding continue although the chicks had fledged!
A very cute looking for this immature Straw-Headed Bulbul.The chick is falling a sleep after the satisfying meal fed by the parents!
The proud parent announcing to the world that their chicks had fledged!

Coppersmith Barbet Courtship Feeding

Is the season of love again for birds in Singapore so as this pair of Coppersmith Barbet. Barbet looks the same both male & female and is not possible to differentiate them just by their appearance.
I'm not sure even with these series of photos, the male is the one on the right. I can only assume that the male will feed the female during courtship.

Can you tell the difference between this 2 barbet? Which one is male and which one is female?

Myna vs Centipede

Chicken are known to feed on centipede, what I didn't expect was that Javan myna feed on centipede too. I managed to capture some shots by chance on Javan myna hunt & feed on centipede.
The myna spotted the centipede and pull it out from the soil, swing it to left & right very vigorously before swallow it.

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!