Sunday, March 25, 2018

A glimpse of the Pied Triller's eggs.

Pied Triller 

 I am thrilled to see the Pied Triller nesting on the Poui ( Tabebuia rosea) branch at the front garden  I have been on guard to see its behaviour.  It is very protective of its nest and would sit on it for the most part of the day.  The female seemed to be quite confident in the safety of the garden.  Once in a while when I checked the nest from a few meters away on ground,  it will be alerted and would fly to nearby branches within 3 - 5 meters away but would soon be seen hopping back to the nesting branch.  In the morning it would hop to the very end of the branches and leaves to preen and to get more direct rays of the sun.  On a few ocassions  I saw the mate visiting the nest.  Just the other day I decided to discover whether it had eggs in the nest.  To reach to the nest I had the cell phone attached to a long bamboo pole.  With 10 secs timer on, I carefully move the pole through the leaves and let it hoover above the nest.  After editing the video I froze one frame to catch a glimpse of the nest and is shown below.  This is indeed a pleasant surprise and worth sharing.   My hope is that I'll be able to record its chicks soon.
Eggs of the Pied Triller

Sitting pretty on its nest.


Monday, March 12, 2018

Orange-bellied flowerpecker enjoying the Ixora berries


 Yesterday I have been observing the antics of the Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonstigma) when it frequented a bunch of ripe fruits of the Yellow Ixora.  The male bird first strike the skin of the fruit, peeling it off before pecking deeper into the flesh.  On another instance, it had the berry caught between it beak before swallowing it.  At the park here this bird is considered a permanent resident.  It is around the place every day, attracted by many kinds of berries and fruits, mainly the Jackfruit. Though tiny it is nevertheless a very attractive bird for its contrasting colours i.e. orange versus blue.
 Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonstigma)