Sunday, June 19, 2016

Olive-winged Bulbul enjoying the Eugenia oleina berries

Olive-winged Bulbul (Pyconotus plumosus) - note the beautiful olive wings
Location : Zone C

 Today has been another fruitful birding day.  The abundance  of Eugenia oleina trees that are in various stages of fruiting have kept many species of birds busy at the park for many days now.  The birds that appear in flocks or in small parties visiting the fruiting trees are the Philippines Glossy Starling, Brown Barbet, Yellow-vented Bulbul and today a new surprise visitor dropped by.  It was the Olive-winged Bulbul (see inset).  It has black bill, light brown feet and a beautiful olive plumage.  It is a lifer for me.  It doesn't seem to make any calls and was intent on eating the ripe juicy fruits of the Eugenia.  It looked at me curiously and was not in a hurry to fly-off  upon noticing my presence, thus allowing me to get better and clearer shots of it.
Olive-winged Bulbul and the berries of the Eugenia oleina

Friday, June 17, 2016

Brown Barbet shows up for the second time

Brown Barbet ( Calorhamphus fuliginosus tertius.) - male of the species with distinctly black bill,chin to throat reddish , breast to vent greyish buff and red feet. Upper parts brown.
Location : Zone C 

Two of the birds of a small party of four

Brown Barbet feeding on the ripe fruits of the Eugenia oleina
It was an extremely lucky day for me.  While photographing the many birds and squirrels that got attracted to the ripe fruits of the Eugenia oleina tree which are fruiting in abundance at the park, my attention was directed at  brown bird among the leaves. It produced a soft high pitched whistle sounding like " zeeet, zeeet, zeeet". The sounds were even more merrier when a small party of four were busily enjoying themselves with the juicy black fruits of the Eugenia oleina.  This is the second time I come across the barbet.  The first time was in 2014 and the story is here.  It is known that these birds are common in the dipterocarp hill forest of Borneo.   The other birds that were attracted to the fruits are the Philippines Glossy Starling and  The Yellow-vented Bulbul, pictures shown below.  There were squirrels too and I managed to get a good shot of one holding the fruit with both hands (see below).
Plantain Squirrel

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Philippines Glossy Starling