“On a quest for elusive Colonel butterflies in the quiet Kranji countryside last weekend, we picked up the distinctive call of the Rusty-breasted Cuckoo (Cacomantis sepulcralis) nearby and instinctively changed to birding mode…
“Scanning the trees, we saw a female bird which soon disappeared amongst the foliage but still continued to call. On the other side of the path that we were on, we saw an orange-breasted bird which was assumed to be the male Rusty-breasted Cuckoo, until it started to call and told us it was very much a male Plaintive Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) (above video).
“While watching the Plaintive Cuckoo, there was another bird hopping around in the same tree, and to our delight it turned out to be a male Violet Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus), and it too started to call! See pic above.
“What an incredibly lucky day for us, not to mention that we also managed to meet three Colonels that morning!”
Lena Chow
Singapore
28th August 2013
