Two avian celebrations

It was the best of times (for our winged ones), it was the worst of times (nationwide lockdown to prevent spread of covid-19) - the taman had just celebrated the successful nesting of a pair of Black-naped Orioles and the Crested Goshawks, and then it's closed to visitors.
The Black-naped Oriole was seen to brood in late Feb and I have been following its progress until the lockdown, and so I guess with lots of time at hand, time to process the images taken.  I only managed to photograph the Goshawk's two chicks over a couple of days so that's for a later posting, hopefully we would have gotten over the lockdown and I would be able to track the chicks again (anyway I was told these chicks will take a longer period, generally two months towards maturity).
So back to the Orioles, when I first discovered their nest, revealed by the constant calls of the birds and hovering about the tree.

I was not certain if the bird was brooding at this stage but if I were to go by my experience observing the yellow-vented bulbul's nesting, I would say that the bird was merely trying to lay its egg - it would normally look like it was in labour, with wide open beak but soundless.

Being away for a week, I returned to the spot and it looked like something was already in the nest, perhaps an egg but there was hardly any movement except for the bird sitting in the nest.  Unfortunately the nest being high up meant that there was no way to confirm what's in or not there.

It was only after about another week later, that the Oriole was seen with a feed, and a little beak was seen, revealing a very hungry and demanding chick.

I waited for another feed but there was none, perhaps the parent was simply waiting for the other mate to bring one.  Anyway if one were to chance upon the bird and nest, one wouldn't know there's a little one in there because it didn't emerge for a while.

And duty called, I left and could only return another day to observe (and so the story will continue into the next posting).

It's the ABF

So what we have feared have come to pass, a 2-week lockdown here, and the local authority has decided that public parks are also out of bounds for two weeks (rather mind boggling decision because one would think that exercise should be encouraged, people should just be reminded to maintain social distancing).
Whatever, I was just glad that I managed to pay one last visit before the ban enforcement, and managed to capture more images of what I now can conclude to be an Asian Brown Flycatcher - the darker chest streaks had me think otherwise initially.  Anyway, this is one of three migrant birds now seen in the park, the other two being the blue-tailed bee-eater and the brown shrike.

First sighting - looked like moulting before it flew home.

The same bird seen couple of days later.

And finally the most recent sighting - this time lighting almost caused the bird to look like another.

Except for this image.

Missing the Woodpecker till now

With little avian excitement nowadays, the sighting of an 'old' acquaintance could be truly thrilling.  And this female Common Flameback Woodpecker did just that to me.  It was initially too busy foraging to notice my presence but soon it did.

I have not seen a Woodpecker look like this before, quite piercing!

And it continued to forage till I left, not it!

Another squirrel species for BK

I couldn't feel but excited when I came across this squirrel which I knew immediately was not the usual and ubiquitous plantain squirrel.  A quick search revealed it to be a Slender Squirrel (Sundasciurus tenuis).

This small mammal of about 15cm from head to body and up to 13cm of tail length (compared to that of a plantain squirrel which is 17-22cm, and tail 16-21cm) is pretty striking with its long slender tail, perhaps hence its name.  It's considered Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and it's found in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.
It feeds on soft tree bark, fruits, insects and small vertebrates such as lizards.

This squirrel stands out too with a pale orange-brown patch round the eyes and small ears.

The Plantain Squirrel that's more commonly and easily sighted, image taken in Taman Rimba Kiara.

Goshawk 'steals' a bath

This is going to be a pretty lengthy piece in view of the half hour I was entertained by this Crested Goshawk.
When it suddenly flew into view I was simply delighted because I thought it provided such an ideal photographic opportunity.

And then to my surprise it flew straight past me down to the favourite spot where most raptors had been seen to take their bath, and hardly 15 ft away.
As usual it displayed extreme alertness before it proceeded to drink, I thought.

Taking gulps of water.

And then it dunked in and splashed, guessed it couldn't resist a refreshing dip, and to my sheer delight!

And out it came, and as ever alert again.

But it was hardly bothered when it saw me, even as I moved about trying to get better views and open shots.

And just as I expected it to fly off, back it returned into the water.  And it looked like it was more concerned about other avian presence before it took to the water again.

The nictitating membrane drawn to protect its eye from the water.  This membrane is also to help the bird moisturise its eyes when it flies at high speed so that the eyes do not dry out.

This time I noticed the membrane was drawn again before it headed in for another dip and splash.

It did look like it had enough as it got back on dry ground.

But nope, it went right back into the water, submerging only halfway though, a belly bath after all!

At last, looked like it had had enough as it flew up.  Then I noticed that it repeatedly open its beak but I could not discern any call or sound, perhaps clearing its throat off water.

A little preening called for here.

Then as suddenly it sped down like a little bullet.

Again it flew straight into the water, this time even closer to where I was, mere feet away, hardly fazed by my presence.

It again displayed extreme alertness, constantly scanning its surrounding.

When it got up from the water, again it looked like it was actually clearing its throat.
Fleeing to a perch, it continued to do just that.

A momentary attempt to shake off some water.

Another attempt to shake off more water.

And then I waited and waited to see what it was going to do next as it perched there with one leg up.

And a lightbulb moment when I saw its stance.

So it was waiting to poop before it took off again.

Well, it needed a little washing now I supposed (!) and looked like the water was so alluring that it hardly mattered that I was watching it and it knew.

In it went this time the entire body.

And then continuously clearing its throat again.

Dunking in again and again unreservedly this time, and nope, no matter that I was right there.

It finally got its entire body drenched, a triumph!

It's certainly a long bath display and finally this one seemed satisfied as it flew off but not before a couple of throat clearing and vigorous shake.