I was kindly alerted by colleagues about a pair of Lineated Barbets (Psilopogon lineatus) that were nesting in Ipoh. I am reporting some limited observations. Nesting is over and the young have fledged.
Nest observation disclosure:
I watched from 7.15am to 8.45am on 16/03/2023. I stayed in the car and used it as a hide to limit my impact on the nesting birds. The nest was known to many others and a number of bird watchers turned up after 8.15am and watched with tripods. I noticed the adults and juveniles were somewhat stressed with more observers – adults were more cautious approaching the nest and juveniles less seen at the nest entrance. Hence, I left the location to reduce my impact.
The nest was located 2.8-3.0 meters up in a dead tree (see Plate 1) at the outskirts of the city. When I arrived at 7.15am the adult birds had already started feeding the young although the light was still dim. When I was alone at the nest, in my car, juveniles would wait expectantly at the nest entrance for food (see Plate 2).
Both adults would bring food (see Plate 3 and 4), at times arriving close to each other; although there was no way to differentiate the sexes. Adults would use one of two staging areas to check for safety before entering. When I was alone, they used an adjacent stump. But when more photographers were around, they used a nearby bare tree.
Feeding frequency when I was alone, early morning, was every 3.7 minutes (range 1-7 minutes, mode 3 minutes). But this changed to 10-12 minutes when more observers arrived – I am uncertain if this was due to more observers being present or being a little later in the morning.
All the food items I saw were fruit, and seemed to be predominantly Ficus fruit. There were smaller berries from non-Ficus sources. No animal prey was seen. Plate 5 shows a composite of some feeding items. Multiple fruits are carried in the beak and at times some appear to be regurgitated.
Plate 6 shows the feeding behaviour with food being placed inside the mouth of juveniles.
I saw only one episode of juvenile waste/droppings removal from the nest (see Plate 7). The adult had to enter the nest to collect this. I did see one other adult entry into the nest but no waste was removed. The waste was carried far away from the nest site.
The juveniles, possibly two, looked fairly mature. I understand that they fledged 2-3 days after my observations. Their head plumage had more brown streaks and the yellow skin around the eye was paler than the adults. Iris colours were the same.
I observed that the juveniles responded to birds in the area. A pair of nesting Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) occasionally gave an alarm call and the juvenile Lineated Barbets responded by retreating into the nest.
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
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