On the morning of 10th March 2016, Melinda Chan was at Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay looking for subjects to photograph. There she came across an Oriental Magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis) that had just caught a lizard
The lizard appeared listless. The magpie-robin had its mandibles firmly clamped on the lizard’s head and thrashing it on the ground. A number of times it lost its grip but immediately grabbed it from the ground and continued thrashing it.
What appeared unusual was the viciousness with which the bird behaved in the thrashing followed by stabbing it three times while the lizard was on the ground.
The magpie-robin did a good job in ensuring its victim was totally dead before swallowing it.
An earlier post also shows the aggressiveness of the Oriental Magpie-robin in dealing with a lizard – but there was no stabbing of the prey.
Melinda Chan
Singapore
10th March 2016
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