Collared Kingfisher, Part l - courtship and nest-seeking

 It’s another first for the Taman as a pair of Collared Kingfishers decided to nest here.

The Collared Kingfishers are infrequent visitors to the taman, hard to ignore over the years, with their unmistakable sharp calls.

Loud and aggressive, the pair first announced their intention to nest with their sharp and continuous calls as they checked out different trees and cavities for potential nests, chasing and threatening any resident birds like mynas, and even squirrels, that came close to a potential cavity nest.

Spotting their initial presence in the taman in mid-April, it would be almost 2 months later when they were sighted feeding chick/s inside their chosen site.

And so it began.

A pause, and tender moments.

Hardly 10 minutes later.

AI overview:

Collared kingfishers copulate through a rapid, highly coordinated "cloacal kiss" on a tree branch. Because they lack external genitalia, the physical transfer of sperm relies entirely on the precise, brief contact of their cloacas. The actual act of copulation lasts only a few seconds, though a pair will often repeat the process multiple times in a short window.

The Copulation Process 

(Observations by the Bird Ecology Study Group detail exactly how the physical act occurs)

Signaling: The female perches on a branch and lowers her head and chest to signal to the male that she is ready.

Mounting: The male flies over and suddenly mounts her back, gripping her shoulders or neck feathers with his feet to maintain balance.

The "Kiss": The female shifts her tail feathers sharply to one side while the male twists his tail downward underneath hers. This allows their cloacas to meet perfectly for a split-second transfer of sperm.

Separation: As soon as the transfer is complete, the male immediately flies off to a nearby branch. He may preen his feathers briefly before initiating another round.A single pair of collared kingfishers has been documented copulating up to three times within a 10-minute span, with the female remaining stationary on the same perch between attempts.

Checking out different tree cavities before they returned to their initial choice.

And this one almost made it as they spent most time here.

Taking a rest in between.

Both male and female took turns to check out the cavity, although it was the male that made the most visits.

But eventually it was the initial location.

The male and female

Taking a splashing break during incubation.

Banded Woodpecker - a loss

 It was an ecstatic moment to discover that three different avian species were nesting in the taman, almost simultaneously, all a first for the taman.  

It augmented so well for the taman, for its ability to attract avian diversity, and availability of avian food in the taman as well as immediate vicinity.

First, we cheered the successful fledging of the brood of four Black-thighed Falconets.  Their extended presence in the taman was expected and welcomed especially by both birders and bird photographers.

Second, while the brood of Falconets were learning to live their young life outside the nest, the Collared Kingfishers welcomed the hatching of their chick (as we learnt later, there was only one).

Third, a pair of Banded Woodpeckers arrived in April (whilst the Falconets were incubating), and decided they wanted a cavity nest along the same branch as the Falconets' nest, barely 5ft away.  They started excavating and was observed to start incubating in mid May.  

Their choice of location was indeed questionable and true to expectation the Falconet parents were soon seen to investigate, peering deep into the nest, and not a few hostile encounters were reported from time to time.

This encounter was captured, probably just before the Woodpecker chick hatched.

Photos courtesy of birder Tee Lian Huat

The Woodpeckers' behaviours were deemed reckless - whilst they took turn to incubate, they did leave the nest alone from time to time.  Almost four weeks later, it was deduced that there could be chick/s inside, and yet the Woodpeckers were observed again to leave the nest alone; on one occasion one parent had shown obvious impatience and left the nest whilst the other was not yet back leaving the nest unguarded with its young inside.

And then as feared, deducing that the chick/s could now be about one week old, tragedy struck.  It was reported that the adult Falconets had entered the nest one evening and dragged out a chick.  Later on, three Falconets were seen in succession to enter the nest but nothing was taken out. (Many thanks to birder Risto for re-conveying this report.)

And follow-up observation of the then abandoned nest concluded that the Banded Woodpeckers had only one chick.

The dead chick that was dragged out and dropped - Photo courtesy of birder Ristomoyo Suwondo

The dropped chick was left behind on the ground by the Falconets - could it be because the chick was too heavy to lift to elsewhere for feeding or because the presence of a couple of birders too close by deterred the pick-up.

An attempt to bestow decency on the carcass of an unwarranted loss - the Woodpeckers by choosing its nest location were deemed to have sealed its own unfortunate fate.

Flower Tumbling Beetle

Flower tumbling beetle/pintail beetle (Glipa malaccana)(family Mordeliidae)