© Blue-winged Pitta adds Frog to Chicks’ Diet

“Upon my returned birding trip to Taiwan, ROC in mid-May, I made a beeline to several locations on mainland Penang, Peninsular Malaysia, where sightings of Blue-winged Pittas (Pitta moluccensis) were previously had (below).

“As breeding window period for these ground dwellers was still at hand, I was not disappointed.

“The observation priority was no longer how parenting birds fed their chicks, pooped or how many trips they made or what nesting materials used; as all these observations had previously been posted into BESG, recorded and shared with readers, in my many past articles, when monitoring this colourful and elusive pitta species.

“For curtailing the risk of ground, prowling predators and primates’ predation, I make a point never to go looking for nesting sites, just to satiate curiosity, the number of eggs laid or chicks in the nest.

“What is more important presently, are opportunities in observing something new to me, something different or documenting bird doing something not reported before, little known, written about or photographed.

“On 26th May 2017, with courting days over, parenting birds were observed busy with sorties of vermin cargo express to feed their young.

“One parenting Blue-winged Pitta stood out while foraging … found a lifeless frog (below).

|

“The probable possessive male inflated his chest and belly to look bigger. He was putting on a protective–defensive front against any potential, predatory threat before flying off with prey and into deep forest (below).

“Photograph of Blue-winged Pitta with frog is probably a first, new food record contribution to Oriental Bird Images (OBI) and Bird Ecology of Singapore (BESG).”

Avian Writer Daisy O’Neill
Penang Malaysia
12th October 2017

Copyright article and all copy images – Courtesy of Daisy O’Neill Bird Conservation Fund.