Up Close with Common Iora

Some common birds can provide us with intriguing features or characteristics which we may at times overlook in the field. One of those birds is the Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia). Common as it may sound, it is actually not even in the top ten list of birds sighted in Malaysia (see extract of record taken from Bird i-Witness below).

1. Oriental Magpie-robin   (Copsychus saularis)                          
2. Yellow-vented Bulbul   (Pycnonotus goiavier)                        
3. Pacific Swallow             (Hirundo tahitica)                              
4. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo   (Dicrurus remifer)                  
5. White-throated Kingfisher  (Halcyon smyrnensis)                  
6. Pin Stripped Tit-babbler     (Macronous gularis)                    
7. Crested Serpent-eagle  (Spilornis cheela)                              
8. Spotted Dove  (Streptopelia chinensis)                                    
9. Little Egret     (Egretta garzetta)                                            
10. Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)                                    

It is also not in the top twenty list of birds in 'My Garden Birdwatch' record from 2010 to 2014. However if you have read about its distribution areas, Common Iora was once reported as common in mangroves but it can now be found in forest edges as well as in parks and gardens. The feature which i have wanted to highlight here is its white rump (see photo below).

Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia)

There are not many books, field guides, images or articles out there with the exception of "Birds of Borneo" (2014) by Wong Tsu Shi and "Birds of Borneo" (2001) by G.W.H Davison and Chew Yen Fook which showed or described the white rump on Common Ioras. Recently i have an opportunity to witnessed this Common Iora displaying its massive white rump. According to Davison & Chew (2001), "rump may seem white especially in flight, owing to the long white flank plumes". In view of the presence of another common iora at that time, there are two possibilities which i reckoned might explain such behavior:

i) a display meant to attract another common iora to mate.

ii) a warning display for a suspected predator (it should be me in this case!).

Here are more photos of the above Common Iora:

It has caught a cricket .

You can also see part of its white rump here 

As i was unable to get a clear view of the other common iora which was foraging quite high up, i am not sure whether the photos below represent the bird.  Awhile later this common iora was seen near the first iora and probably may have descended from the tree that it was initially foraging. 

They looked remarkably similar but this bird appears more yellowish than the earlier bird right ? If it is true then perhaps there is a possibility that the initial Common Iora (presumably a male) was displaying its white rump to attract the above bird (which presumably a female).

So the next time you are in the field again do look closely at common birds as well !

Note:  i) Philip D. Round et al., in Forktail 30 (2014), 28 - 33 reported that "most of the South-East Asian insectivorous landbirds usually breed during the first half of the year i.e. between Jan and July".

           ii) It has also been reported that the sexing of birds should moved from using color, morphometric measurements or behavioral differences to a more reliable molecular techniques such as DNA techniques (Guo-Jing Weng et al., as cited in Forktail, 30 (2014): 96-103)

Green-Billed Malkoha

There are three main characteristics which can be used to determine this malkoha:

i) whitish border around eye orbital

ii) greyish head and breast

iii) long tail

Any of those three features can be used to tell this malkoha apart from the rest of the other malkohas - lets say "black-bellied" or "chestnut-bellied". I have also noticed that the area around its eye orbital is more reddish as compared to "black-bellied" which is more orangey.  I reckoned only the tail feature will be hard to gauge if it is in molt or been ripped apart.

Apparently this species of malkoha is from the family of cuckoos ("cuculidae") but a non-parasitic one. According to the "Handbook of the Birds of the World", there are six (6) subspecies which are currently been recognised. The 6 subspecies and its distribution are as follows:

i) Phaenicophaeus trisis trisis - Northern India, through outer Himalayas, Nepal, Bhutan, Assam, Bangladesh to Madhya Pradesh (Lesson, 1830).

ii) P.t. saliens - Northern Myanmar, Northern Thailand, Northern Indochina, South China and Guangdong (Mayr, 1938).

iii) P.t. hainanus - Hainan Island (Hartert, 1910).

iv) P.t. longicaudatus - South Myanmar, South Thailand, South Indochina to Peninsular Malaysia (Blyth, 1841).

v) P.t elongatus - Sumatra (Muller, 1836).

vi) P.t kangeangensis - Kangean Island (Vorderman, 1893).

Nearer to home, you can find this malkoha more uniquitous in the northern states of Peninsular Malaysia and they can be quite tame, foraging in the thickets in ones' garden like this one here.

(Note: at this point of time most checklists including clement checklist recognised "P. t. trisis" as the nominate race for this species of malkoha).

Birds in Flight at Bagan Belat

Year 2014 was certainly a tragic and unforgettable year for all i am sure - 3 planes crashed, major floods, shocking death of Robbin Williams, M. Schumacher bang his head on the stone, extremism, no promotion, my car got wrecked, etc etc.

To start the new year, here are some of the flight shots of the birds taken at Bagan Belat, Penang recently.

Terns sighted here were mainly consisted of Whiskered, White Winged and Little Terns

I believe this could be a Whiskered Tern or is it a Little Tern?

They have certainly enjoyed flying together

The only time i could witnessed such abundance of terns was off the coast of Kuala Selangor.

A sea full of terns and waders.

From the above photos, you can see some sand plovers, pacific golden plovers, curlew sandpipers, and terns - a cosmopolitan of shore birds !

The best of the lots was certainly this Brown-Headed Gull.

Once they are tired of circling around it was time to land...

led by a Common Greenshank !

BEST WISHES !