After a few days of sighting a medium-sized black bird flying about in the park that seemed difficult to take a photo of, my luck turned good on the 5th of June. On that day the 'black bird' somehow appeared in plain sight. It was among the tall branches of jungle trees at Botanic Island Two area that I had a good look at it. It was a Black-bellied Malkoha and is the second time that I stumbled on the species. A remarkable thing happened when the bird attacked a big jungle grasshopper and I was excited when the seizure was captured in camera as shown below. This is a silent bird and the Botanic Island seemed to be its favourite habitat, being in the lowland primary forest it is. Of course many other malkoha species have been sighted here over the years. The bird's bill is light green, feet is dull blue-grey and the body an attractive rich-bluish green. The skin around the eye is a rich crimson colour. Its tail has white tips.
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| Black-bellied Malkoha with a big jungle grasshopper at its beak. Note the white tips at its tail. |
