“On the afternoon of March 25th, my son, Saker, saw a bird hit the living room window. The windows of our 9th floor flat were shut but I could make out a bird through the frosted glass… a Pied Triller (Lalage nigra).
“I went out of our front door, into the corridor, followed by Saker and my wife, Sham. There, at the window sill, sat an immature triller. It had not hit hard and looked quite unhurt. It made the occasional single-note call, which I am sure was to attract a parent’s attention.
“On closer inspection, we could see the pale gape and streaky chest, which is indicative of a young bird. However, the black and white wings showed that it was moulting into a male of the species.
“It could not fly far and I picked it up for a closer inspection. There were a few kerengga ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) biting it and I removed four. It looked well enough, so I decided that it was best to return it to the trees below my block and hope that the parents will relocate it through its calls.
“I fed it with a little weak sugar water and Saker and I took it downstairs. There, we placed it on a branch of a small tree and it made a few short flights from branch to branch, calling. We left it there and hoped for the best.
“The Pied Triller is a fairly common resident of our parks and gardens. It hunts insects in the treetops.”
Subaraj Rajathurai
26th March 2009
Singapore
