Search

© Yellow-vented Bulbul fly-chased cicada for breakfast

on 5th April 2017

“Finally, it was time DGscope got dusted out. It was time again to re-horn my digiscoping skills in preparation for my next overseas birding trip – in search of a ‘nympha’ bird.

“With advancing clearing of lands for buildings/development and deterioration of local birding sites, the exuberance of birding ‘in my backyard’ had long lost lustre. I had to find somewhere to zest up.

“This… I recently found a garden compound in a village Malaysian government-run clinic. The bird of the day observed was no other than the ubiquitous, most popular resident – Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) in foraging action.

“I was taking a coffee break beside my vehicle when something flew in a hurry and that caught my attention.

“The bird was low flying, chasing a large insect and heading towards my direction. On a couple of occasions, bird managed to bill-catch, having momentarily lost its grip and sending the six- legged to struggle free. It was quite unusual as no distressful, sounding calls of screaming cicadas came from the ill fated insect.

“Flyboy-the Yellow-vented Bulbul’s perseverance paid off.

“DGscope soon got into action and managed a quick shot at Flyboy the moment it landed on a grassy patch, near a tree with its priced catch.

YVB-cicada [DaisyO'Neill] 1

“The insect appeared to look like a cicada (above).

YVB-cicada [DaisyO'Neill] 2

“Of some interest, one of its claws was hanging on to an orangey piece of… perhaps a part of the insect’s internal organs divorced by Flyboy’s extraction force. Or… was it a piece of debris caught up when the lifeless insect was receiving repeated death blows off the ground (above)?

YVB-cicada [DaisyO'Neill] 3

“Whatever that piece was, it didn’t look too happy (above).

“Soon, Flyboy wasted no time to demolish its huge breakfast after repeatedly threw and smashed the insect carcass on the grass floor.

YVB-cicada [DaisyO'Neill] 4

“Possessively, the bird flew and took to another position, safer and further away (above).

YVB-cicada [DaisyO'Neill] 5

“Having systematically extracted all soft and juicy internals of the insect, Flyboy posed and displayed the cicada’s exoskeleton (above).

YVB-cicada [DaisyO'Neill] 6

“Nothing went to waste as the crunchy, shell like casing was simply too crisp to the bite to ignore (above)!.

“A total of 10(ten) minutes was all that took to fly chase and to devour the cicada species, before Flyboy – the Yellow-vented Bulbul flew away with breakfast remnant.

“This is my warm-up 1st article for 2017.”

Avian Writer Daisy O’Neill
Penang Malaysia

Copyright article and all Images – Courtesy of Daisy ONeill Bird Conservation Fund

If you like this post please tap on the Like button at the left bottom of page. Any views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors/contributors, and are not endorsed by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM, NUS) or its affiliated institutions. Readers are encouraged to use their discretion before making any decisions or judgements based on the information presented.

YC Wee

Dr Wee played a significant role as a green advocate in Singapore through his extensive involvement in various organizations and committees: as Secretary and Chairman for the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), and with the Nature Society (Singapore) as founding President (1978-1995). He has also served in the Nature Reserve Board (1987-1989), Nature Reserves Committee (1990-1996), National Council on the Environment/Singapore Environment Council (1992-1996), Work-Group on Nature Conservation (1992) and Inter-Varsity Council on the Environment (1995-1997). He is Patron of the Singapore Gardening Society and was appointed Honorary Museum Associate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) in 2012. In 2005, Dr Wee started the Bird Ecology Study Group. With more than 6,000 entries, the website has become a valuable resource consulted by students, birdwatchers and researchers locally and internationally. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not represent those of LKCNHM, the National University of Singapore or its affiliated institutions.

Other posts by YC Wee

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories
Archives

Overall visits (since 2005)

Live visitors
761
4004
Visitors Today
51743005
Total
Visitors

Clustrmaps (since 2016)