The image below by Sim Chip Chye shows a Clouded Monitor (Varanus nebulosus) that had taken over a tree cavity.
“A myna noticed its presence and wanted to evict this unwanted visitor, flew near and was nearly swiped by the lizard’s claws, thereafter, it waited…” wrote Chip Chye.
Quite a number of birds nest in tree cavities but not all can carve a hole in a rotting or semi-rotting tree. Those capable of chiseling their nesting cavities include barbets, woodpeckers and kingfishers. On the other hand those incapable of doing so include hornbills, Dollarbirds (Eurystomus orientalis) and parakeets.
What this means is that naturally occurring tree or other cavities are always in demand, as shown HERE, HERE and HERE.
There are even cases of the more aggressive birds forcibly eject the resident birds for the space. A fierce fight between the Long-tailed Parakeet (Psittacula longicauda) and the Dollarbird when the former intruded into the nest of the latter can be viewed HERE. The Dollarbird literally pulled the parakeet out of the nest and reclaimed it.
The provision of nesting boxes for hornbills in Singapore LINK has seen an increase of the number of Oriental Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris) around parks and housing estates LINK.
Sim Chip Chye
Singapore
11th March 2017
This post is a cooperative effort between Birds, Insects N Creatures Of Asia and BESG to bring the study of birds and their behavior through photography and videography to a wider audience.
Leave a Reply