The Chestnut-bellied Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus) is basically an insectivore. Its food includes various insects like locusts, mantids, stick insects, leaf insects, crickets, grasshoppers, cicada and large hairy caterpillars (Payne, 1997). Occasionally, it takes frogs and agamid lizards or even small fruits and seeds (Wells, 199).
This image, provided by Chris Lee a.k.a. chrisli023 and photographed in August 2008, shows the malkoha with a katydid or long-horned grasshopper (F: Tettigoniidae) in its bill. This grasshopper is easily identified from its pair of long antennae or feelers, usually as long or longer than its body.
References:
1. Payne, R.B. (1997). Family Cuculidae (cucoos). Pp.508-607 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 4. Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.
2. Wells, D.R. (1999). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. I, Non-passerines. Academic Press, London.
This post is a cooperative effort between www.naturepixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.
