Our birding trips

Japanese Garden 01Apr08

From GC

Date: 01 Apr 08
Time: 1145 - 1410
Weather: Sunny
Location: Japanese Gardens.

Noon time is a bad time for birding - most birds would be hiding from the hot weather. However, I decided to go to the Japanese Gardens as I had not been there for a while. A male Common Iora was found, sitting on its nest. The nest was built at the fork of some branches around 4m above the ground and covered with spiderweb. When the female returned with food, the male would leave and 2 chicks could be seen gaping for food. The food item was fed whole to 1 chick. After that, the female looked a while to see if the chick would excrete any faecal matter. 1 chick did and sure enough the female picked it up. The faecal sac looked watery, unlike the sunbirds', which looked compact. I expected the female to fly away to dispose of it, just like the sunbirds that I've seen, but to my surprise, she ate the faecal sac! Then the female settled down to brood the chicks, or should i say shelter them from the hot sun.

One parent was always on the nest, except for one occasion when the female flew off and caught a spider on the same tree. She whacked the spider for about 30 sec, severing some of the spider's legs before feeding it to 1 of the chicks. While brooding the chicks, both parents left their beaks open most of the time - this led me to think that these birds don't sweat, that's why they have to 'pant' like dogs to cool down! Even the chicks popped their heads out of the nest, maybe it is cooler that way. Later, the male returned with food. After feeding 1 chick, he also looked to see if the chick would defecate, sure enough the chick did and the male promptly picked it up and ate it as well before settling down to brood the chicks. In contrast, I've observed that with the Olive-backed Sunbirds, it is usually the female that wait to see if the chicks defecate and then she'll dispose the faecal sac, while the male would feed and leave. At least 4 feedings were observed.