I was at the Kledang Saiong Forest Reserve on 30th January 2023 when I spotted this female Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker (Prionochilus percussus) collecting spider webs for nest construction. It was not looking for spider prey. It would extend the body forward, open the beak wide, then brush it through the spider web and snag some strands. It did this action a few times and then went to another spider web to get more material. The nest and the male partner were not observed.
First image shows the behaviour. The second image shows the collected spider webs in the beak.
Birds are well recognised to use spider webs as part of the nesting structure (see a previous record from me: Amar-Singh HSS 2016). Spider silk acts as a ‘glue’ or ‘tape’ to hold parts of the nest together and allows flexibility for some expansion.
Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker nests are poorly described. Wells (2007) states “not described” locally; Cheke and Mann (2001) say nest “unknown”. Birds of the World (2020) offer a description of the nest as “a pear-shaped bag, circular entrance 2·5 cm in diameter, protruding rim around entrance (but no porch), constructed from reddish vegetable down, lined with fine roots, and decorated with caterpillar excreta, lichen, moss, roots etc.” No mention of the use of spider web in the construction.
References:
1. Amar-Singh HSS (2016). Nesting of the Common Iora: 1. Harvesting spider web. Bird Ecology Study Group.https://besgroup.org/2014/07/20/nesting-of-the-common-iora-1-harvesting-spider-web/.
2. Wells, D.R. (2007). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula: Vol. 2 (Passerines). Christopher Helm, London.
3. Robert A Cheke, Clive F Mann (2001). Sunbirds: A Guide to the Sunbirds, Flowerpeckers, Spiderhunters and Sugarbirds of the World. Helm Identification Guides.
4. Cheke, R. and C. Mann (2020). Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker (Prionochilus percussus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.crbflo1.01
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
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