ML379740721 OBI 181175
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
- Behaviors
- Foraging or eating
Media notes
Feeding behaviour. Remarks: It was dark and wet morning today after many hot days. I saw birds participating in a mixed species aerial insect feeding on flying termites (termite alates/imagos). I have observed a number of such events and most occur after heavy/prolonged rain in the late evening, preceded by a hot day. Occasionally, like this one, they occur after rain in morning preceding a hot spell of days. Fortunately the rain dropped to a drizzle from 9.10-9.40am offering a short window of observation. Around 120-150 birds were involved in the mixed species aerial insect feeding. The unexpected bird was an Indian Cuckoo that was a very active participant, flying ungainly all over to obtain prey. Wells (1999) notes on the Indian Cuckoo that it "emerge from cover to take flying termites". Termite alates are noted as part of the food source of Indian Cuckoos in ‘Cuckoos of the World' (Erritzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller 2012). Birds seen on this occasion at the mixed species aerial insect feeding include: Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus concretus) – single bird Dollarbirds (Eurystomus orientalis orientalis) – 3 birds (2 juveniles) White-throated Kingfishers (Halcyon smyrnensis) – 2 or 3 birds Black-naped Orioles (Oriolus chinensis maculates) – 5 to 6 birds Oriental Magpie Robins (Copsychus saularis saularis) – 4 to 5 birds Common Mynas (Acridotheres tristis tristis) – 4 to 5 birds Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier analis) – 8 to 10 birds Asian Glossy Starlings (Aplonis panayensis strigata) – numerous, excess of 50 birds Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus malaccensis) – 4 to 5 birds Pacific Swallow (Hirundo tahitica javanica) – numerous Unidentified Swifts – numerous Other birds seen in the past at mixed species aerial insect feeding include: House Crows (Corvus splendens protegatus) Baya Weavers (Ploceus philippinus infortunatus). Blue-tailed Bee-eaters (Merops philippinus) Blue-throated Bee-eaters (Merops viridis) Purple-backed Starlings (Sturnus sturninus) Pied Trillers (Lalage nigra) Brown Shrikes (Lanius cristatus) Greater Racket-tailed Drongos (Dicrurus paradiseus) Asian Drongo Cuckoo Surniculus lugubris Other Drongos (Possibly Black Drongo) Pied Fantails (Rhipidura javanica) Common Flamebacks (Dinopium javanense) Green-billed Malkohas (Phaenicophaeus tristis) -Amar. Date added to OBI: January 05, 2020.
Collection
Technical information
- Dimensions
- 650 pixels x 486 pixels
- Original file size
- 88.36 KB