“Many birds come to bathe at the garden bird bath we set up and seeing them is easy. These photographs were taken through our tinted sliding glass door.
“There are of two Oriental Magpie Robins (Copsychus saularis musicus) who are moulting. The bird above-left is a recent juvenile who has been fed in our garden for weeks and who is just assuming adult plumage. Lovely deep blue-purple back. Going to be a male I think from the chest development. The bird top-right is an adult male that is moulting. Lots of new feather as well as shafts in the face.
“Two different Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier gourdini) that can look quite comical, all fluffed up, when getting ready to jump in (above left). Bit it actually was not keen on the cool water, it fluffy extensively and hops about quite a bit before diving in. The partner (above right) just jumps straight in.
“These are our regular chaps.
“Another regular at our bird bath, many times a day is the Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica longicaudata) (below).
“The bird bath is located just in front of our dining table in the garden patio. Without the camera we watch them daily naked-eye at close range. When the camera appears they get nervous.
“Need to clean out completely every week and scrub to prevent mosquito breeding. Water added daily as important drinking site for neighborhood birds.
“Birds as small as sunbirds, some woodpeckers, and even a medium sized raptor use the bath.”
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Canning Garden Home, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Conditions: Late, hot afternoon
26th August 2012
