Not so thrilling triller, for some

Would you be more sought after if a migrant?

Some birds are named for their colours, some for the calls they make.

The Pied Triller (Lalage nigra) is named for  both, its pied colour (especially conspicuous in the male whilst the female is more greyish brown) as in birding term refers to black and white.  And does it trill, reflective of its 'triller' name - some say it does especially of the male, some say otherwise - go listen!

As I was passing by

 

Sleeping?

Thanks for the pose anyway!

Shrike and its territory

 It's not difficult to track this Brown Shrike's stay in the taman, simply because it has claimed a certain part of the taman as its territory since its arrival.  And this spot has always been a shrike's season after season.  

It didn't even need much effort to spot it whenever one ventured there as the bird would flee at any approach, so revealing its presence.  For better or for worse, this one remained skittish throughout its stay here

This was shortly after it arrived to spend its winter away here.

The brown shrike has always been one of the earlier arrivals and one of the last to leave for home.

Three months after its arrival, its appearance remained almost the same.

Another two months later, which translated into six months now, it finally displayed some transformation.

It looked like this one took comparatively longer to moult into adult plumage, and one could safely conclude that it came as a first winter bird.

Looking ruffled on another day.

Missing the pond herons

 Tracking the pond herons this season, I was disappointed to have fallen short of capturing them in their prime breeding plumage.

These two birds arrived in early February.

More than three weeks later, there was noticeable moulting.

More than a month later, i.e. this would be almost two months since they have been here.

And this was the last time I saw them.  These Chinese Pond Herons did return to the taman but sadly not as regularly as during previous seasons, and I simply missed out on those occasions they were here, donning complete chestnut-maroon plumage.

Not so ordinary

Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, when one lauds the presence, glimpse of a bird in its habitat.

And so I fall for the Pied Fantail all over again!

 

A wagtail dawdler

 I thought I'll 'See you in September/See you when the summer's through' so the song goes ...., which was normally when you arrived during the migratory season.

So how stunned I was when walking towards what sounded like a cacophony of avian bickerings, you suddenly popped out, looking like you were in a territorial dispute.

And so that was how I chanced upon a Forest Wagtail (Dendronanthus indicus) at this time of the year when almost all migrant birds have left for their home.

It didn't look the least fazed being an 'alien' and quickly got down to seek a grub.

Wagging its tail and foraging in its usual incessant manner,  I was hoping for some photo ops that would differ from the usual forest ground backdrop.

And I supposed this was the best as it did a 'catwalk'.

Bee-eater trespassing?

 The Blue-throated Bee-eaters (Merops viridis) had taken over as soon as the Blue-tailed Bee-eaters were no longer seen.

However I wouldn't say that seeking so low by the river was its usual hunting ground.

A superb 90 degrees dive, but unfortunately must have failed because it didn't emerge with any prey.

And so it continued to seek, again I failed to detect any success.

And it was eventually pounced upon and chased off by a local resident as it must have trespassed into a local territory!

And it fled to safety in numbers, even if it's only two.

Perhaps the longest courtship, Part II

 I wouldn't have dreamt of a sequel to 'Perhaps the longest courtship' when I heard the male Asian Koel koo... oooing again in the same area, his call crescendoing through that part of the taman.  And so I sauntered over, hardly expecting any excitement, perhaps only a glimpse of Her Ladyship if she so consented with her presence.

And just as I arrived below where the besotted lover was koo ... oooing away, there was a flurry and indeed Her Ladyship seemed to have responded this time, or so I thought.  

And so I must confessed out front that I was still as baffled at this point with her performance as I soon would be too when she left.

There was no acknowledgement of the lover's presence as she did not fly in to be with him, but seemed merely to survey the area as she hopped about on an adjacent tree.

And that's it, off she flew and seeing that she had landed low pretty close by, off I sped after her, hoping to comprehend what's going on.

And indeed she had landed on a low branch, not at all bothered that I was moving about close by trying to zoom in between twigs.

And after almost 10 minutes of 'silent' display she decided to hop down looking like she had spotted something.

And then the strangest thing happened, she regurgitated!

She then deftly peeled off the skin of the fruit with her beak before consuming it.

And then she did it again!

There was no peeling this time as she promptly swallowed it.

And then as expected, she flew down eventually.

So Her Ladyship seemed to be having a little adventure of her own, and I could hear  clearly now the male calling from an adjacent tree so he must have moved closer.

But she heeded him not!  Because she soon flew off to the palm trees across the road, hopping and clinging and spreading her wings among the multi-stems of the palm trees.  

Completely mind boggling to me!

And then that's it, she proceeded to fly right across into a tree at the other end of the taman, and I could her call, a shrill kik kik kik.

My attempt to track her this time came to no avail but I did come across the male who had trailed her again, revealing his presence again with its koo ... ooo call, now high up at the upper canopy.

And I would think that's the end of the sequel.

But no, for he was seen later to be picking fruits at this tree which seemed to be a favourite one as I have seen time and again him harvesting here.

And I could only guess it's another offering for Her Ladyship, wherever she was.

And so with a stock of 3 stashed down his throat, he flew off, safe to deduce it's once again to court Her Ladyship!

And dare I say I was any wiser at the end of this entire episode about what had just happened?!