{"id":39682,"date":"2015-04-07T13:53:57","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T05:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/?p=39682"},"modified":"2023-06-24T17:15:29","modified_gmt":"2023-06-24T09:15:29","slug":"white-crested-laughingthrush-anting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/2015\/04\/07\/white-crested-laughingthrush-anting\/","title":{"rendered":"WHITE-CRESTED LAUGHINGTHRUSH \u2013 ANTING"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-1.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Weaver Ants\" width=\"590\" height=\"396\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-39683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-1.jpg 590w, https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-1-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the morning of 12th November 2014, I was taking a stroll along forest edge when I encountered a small flock of White-crested Laughingthrushes (<em>Garrulax leucolophus<\/em>). Some were approaching the base of a lamp post and expressed interest in an aggregation of Weaver Ants (<em>Oecophylla smaragdina<\/em>) on the grass and concrete (above). <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"WC Laughingthrush\" width=\"590\" height=\"393\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-39684\" srcset=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-2.jpg 590w, https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-2-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen without much hesitation, the birds picked up the ants one at a time and applied them onto their feathers repeatedly (images 2 &#038; 3). This proceeded for approximately five minutes, until most of the ants had dispersed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"WC Laughingthrush\" width=\"590\" height=\"415\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-39685\" srcset=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-3.jpg 590w, https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/LaughingthrushWC-anting-LeongTziMing-3-300x211.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cVideo clips of this anting behaviour may be previewed here:<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"590\" height=\"330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GL2H4VJqXi4\" frameborder=\"0\" <strong>allowfullscreen<\/strong>><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"590\" height=\"330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5BjJ0uqFJRA\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince the earlier days of Ornithology, the topic of anting has always been an intriguing one and discussed at varying extents (e.g., Simmons, 1957). In Singapore, this was only addressed in earnest relatively recently (Wee, 2008). Since then, various contributors have succeeded in obtaining photographic records of this behaviour for various species, including:<\/p>\n<p>\uf09f Javan Myna (<em>Acridotheres javanicus<\/em>): <a href=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/2010\/07\/26\/javan-myna-anting-photographic-documentation\/\">LINK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\uf09f Oriental Magpie-robin (<em>Copsychus saularis<\/em>): <a href=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/2013\/09\/28\/oriental-magpie-robin-anting\/\">LINK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\uf09f Blue-winged Pitta (<em>Pitta moluccensis<\/em>): <a href=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/2014\/07\/19\/%C2%A9-insights-to-blue-winged-pittas-part-1\/\">LINK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\uf09f Vinous-breasted Starling (<em>Acridotheres burmannicus<\/em>): <a href=\"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/2015\/01\/14\/observation-of-anting-by-vinous-breasted-starling\/\">LINK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we spend more time in the field, armed with cameras in hand, may we be presented with more opportunities to document such rare behaviour and help add to a growing list of bird species that will deliberately inflict themselves with tiny bites and squirts of formic acid!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dr. Leong Tzi Ming<\/strong><br \/>\nSingapore<br \/>\n4th April 2015<\/p>\n<p><strong>REFERENCES<br \/>\n1.<\/strong> Simmons, K. E. L., 1957. A review of the anting-behaviour of Passerine birds. British Birds, 50(10): 401\u2013424, Pls. 57\u201362.<br \/>\n2. Wee, Y. C., 2008. Anting in Singapore birds. Nature in Singapore, 1: 23\u201325.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cOn the morning of 12th November 2014, I was taking a stroll along forest edge when I encountered a small flock of White-crested Laughingthrushes (Garrulax leucolophus). Some were approaching the base of a lamp post and expressed interest in an aggregation of Weaver Ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) on the grass and concrete (above). \u201cThen without much [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":39683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,98],"tags":[548],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/besgroup.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}