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)

Crested Serpent-Eagle

 Just passing by.

Just looking up.

And two paths crossed.

One heartbeat paused, though time never did, never would.

Swiftlets and Swallows

 Always a challenge but simply couldn't walk by when so many graced the sky.

And it's the season when juveniles abound down here, and up there too.

Aerodrammus sp also known as dark swiftlets, as I've been told, include the edible as well as Germain's swiftlets.  And in time, is reportedly to be lumped together as edible swiftlets - the never-ending name changes, re-classifying that goes on in avian taxonomy.

Swallows - that's another classification.

But today, juveniles graced the sky.

An older juvenile.

Oriental Magpie-Robin

One Oriental Magpie-Robin chick must surely be born to survive.

In  close proximity with the nest of a brood of four Black-thighed Falconets and a busy pair of parents always on the hunt, this Oriental Magpie-Robin that was hatched much later but had assumed fledgling status in only about 15 days (compared to more than 30 days of a black-thighed falconet fledgling), fell right to its tree base, and inevitably would be ready meal if the Falconet parents were around.

Unfortunately another chick was found dead already, at the base of a close-by tree, presumably fallen earlier from the nest, undiscovered by its parents.

With a little human help, the surviving chick was placed in the fork of an adjacent tree with the hope that its searching parents would quickly notice its presence.

Perhaps a premature fledgling, it failed to find its balance as it fell again.

Fortunately the parents who were noisily looking for their chicks in the vicinity, arrived promptly, and managed cleverly to coax it, struggling through the grass, into the undergrowth and safety.