“Spotted a Pied Triller (Lalage nigra) nest with two chicks, the usual brood number (above). I was watching another bird and was already close to the nest (4-5 meters) before I spotted it.
“Decided to just stay still and the parents accepted my presence. They both brought insects prey frequently to feed the nestlings. Above image shows the male with a grasshopper, below the female with a caterpillar for the chicks.
At times the chicks were unable to handle a large prey, like a grasshopper, and the parent had to retrieve the prey and re-process it before re-feeding (below).
It was chilly morning so the female also remained at times at the nest to keep the chicks warm (below).
“The nest was located on the forked branch of a very young Rain Tree (Albizia saman) approximately 3.5 meters above the ground level (below). The nest construction included a strip of creeping ficus (Ficus pumila).
“One of the fascinating observations was how the adults and chicks dealt with waste. Just after feeding the female positioned herself at the rear of one of the chick in anticipation of receiving a faecal sac.
“There was some unspoken signal given for this to happen but I did not spot it. When the faecal sac, covered by a gelatinous membrane, was partially ejected (above), the female picked it up (below) for disposal some distance from the nest. I did not see the parents consuming any faecal sacs.”
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
25-29th April 2014
One Response
Lovely account and images!