“The old adage ‘Birds of a Feather Flock Together’ seems to apply to birds of different species too. Was at Singapore Botanical Gardens’ Evolution Garden in Dec 2010 and noticed a pair of birds of different species that seem to look alike but hanging around almost together.
“I spotted the Drongo Cuckoo (Surniculus lugubris) at the open air car park (above left). It was busy flying around and flew to a branch near a male Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradisus) (above right), thinking that the first bird was the female. Both birds were of similar size, had red eyes and almost black throughout body and tail. But when I got home to view the images via the laptop, I noticed the earlier bird had a different tail design and had white markings.
“I was wondering if this sticking around together was just a mere coincidence or something that happens in nature where different species of birds flock together for special purposes?
“…to add to the above, other similar looking birds also seem to flock together. I have seen pictures of Milky Storks (Mycteria cinerea) mingling with Painted Storks (Mycteria leucocephala) at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Also, the Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) and the Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus) are often together.”
Thong Chow Ngian
Singapore
4th February 2011
