“I have had more opportunity to spend time with this solitary male Sultan Tit (Melanochlora sultanea flavocristata). This observation was taken against the sun and at first I thought the bird was nest building (above, below). But a closer inspection of images showed that it had found prey – some eggs laid under a leaf in a long brown tubular fashion; possibly of a wasp species. It stripped them off the leaf to take away to eat.
“Description of songs and calls, translated into words, vary greatly in different references.
The classical call is the one offered here in an edited recording (below)…
“…and sonogram/waveform (below).
“Wells (2007) describes it best as an ‘intense carrying chi peeo peeo …’ The song starts with a ‘chi’ note and is followed by 1 to 5 (or more?) ‘peeo’ notes. Robson (2002) renders the ‘peeo’ as ‘piu’.
“The more common call given is the of a loud ‘chwek-chwek’ that is usually in two notes. Edited recording in Post 5… (below)…
“…and sonogram/waveform (below).
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
15th September 2016
Location: Kledang-Sayong Forest Reserve, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Habitat: A ‘damaged’ trail along primary jungle
