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 !

Back to Birding with the Cuckoos of Air Itam Dalam

Whenever i see a cuckoo i would try to take lots of their images as possible. They are after all one of those 'difficult' birds to be identified. You do not need to have great photos of the bird but as long as the subtle/prominent features can be seen you should be able to identify them or perhaps with some help from an experience birder.  I went again to Air Itam Dalam instead of Sungai Sedim forest recently in view of the weather and its shorter distance from my home. There are always some aura of mystery at this place i.e you will always expect to see something different each time you step into the area. This time three types of cuckoos were seen, however only two species were photographed. The first been an Indian Cuckoo.

Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus)

According to Craig Robson's (2005) and Allen J's (2012) field guide, a female Indian Cuckoo has rufescent wash / rufous tinge across breast. Here you can see the feature and therefore the image suggests that it could be an adult female Indian Cuckoo.

According to Medway and Wells (1976), this cuckoo species is most active from January to August but since this cuckoo was seen in December so it might just be an early visitor here.

In flight i have noticed that it has quite sharp arched wings, something which you will also see in 'Nightjars', 'Frigate birds' etc. This bird was silent through out which would normally be expected of passage migrants/winter visitors.

It was also quite aggressive - chasing a 'Common Flameback Woodpecker' (Dinopium javanense) straight down to the water. I believe it may be trying to prevent the woodpecker from getting near to the 'Pin-Stripped Tit-Babblers" (M. gularis) which a few have been observed near the Indian Cuckoo and may be presumed looking for a suitable nesting site.


The second cuckoo bird seen here was even more interesting and it was presumably an Oriental Cuckoo !   Ever since King (2005) described the oriental cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) as two separate species i.e Himalayan Cuckoo (C.saturatus) and Lesser Sunda Cuckoo (C. lepidus), the taxanomy of this cuckoo species has yet to be confirmed until todate. A quick check on Birdlife International site reveals that the oriental cuckoo (C. optatus) taxon is no longer recognised. However most of the checklist available todate and at the point of typing recognised C.saturatus (Himalayan Cuckoo) and Sunda Cuckoo (C.lepidus) in their database. Here are the latest checklist which you can refer to:

i)   Avibase database - version May 2014

ii)  Birdlife International - version 06.1 (Feb 2014)

iii) Clements - 6th ed., (6.9), 2014

iv) eBird - version 1.55

v) Howard & Moore - 4th ed.

vi) IOC World Birdlist - version 4.04

Note: apparently the above checklists also have "C.optatus' in their listing ! Aduh ! PENING KEPALA !!

Could this be a Himalayan Cuckoo (Cuculus saturatus)?

Just like the Indian Cuckoo it had remained silent but it perched quite high up on an exposed trunk. Due to the weather condition, i had to increased the ISO metering to see its features otherwise it would just appear as a black dot on the screen! According to Wells & Becking (1975) and Payne (2005) as cited in {Lindholm and Linden (2007), Forktail 23: 12 -16}, the Sunda Cuckoo occurs as a resident on the Malayan Peninsula and Indonesian islands. In more recent times, Allen J (2012) described that migratory population tend to frequent low elevations. So this cuckoo at Air Itam Dalam area may had been from the northern migratory populations (i.e from Central Asia, the Himalayan mountains, Japan and China) because the resident population in Peninsular Malaysia usually occurs above 900 m (Allen J & Pearson, 2012). (Note: it was reported that Seberang Perai area which consists of Air Dalam Forest is only 541 meters above sea level)

If this was indeed C. saturatus or a C. optatus then it should be the first reported sigting at Air Dalam Forest and probably just one of a few been spotted outside its hill or mountain playgrounds (as per B.i.W record). Although DNA analysis has been recommended to scientifically identify this species but how i wish that this cuckoo bird can be described as how some Malaysian birders described Swinhoe's snipe (G. megala) and Pintail snipe (G.stenura) as "Swintail Snipe" !! Malaysia Boleh ! I am sure you can too ! 

Herping with MNS Herpetology Group - Nov 2014

In your younger days you might have done some crazy stuff like climbing up Bukit Tabur in the middle of the night, scuba diving in the sea full of sharks, going camping alone in a remote place or perhaps going out at night to look for frogs and snakes in the jungle! Fast forward 30 years later, i kinda rekindled my childhood adventures by joining the MNS Herpetology Group in one of their outings recently. The rain came just before the trip but it did not deter 21 enthusiastic adventures including a few children to gather around for some good outing.

Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaetulla prasina)

Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaetulla prasina)

Even before we set for the trek, our group leader Steven Wong has found this common whip snake. The children got really excited seeing their first wild snake. 

It looks menacing but it is totally harmless to humans.

The kampung name for this snake as i can recall was 'ular lidi' while some book also named it as 'oriental vine snake'. After a few photograph sessions, the snake was released back to its habitat. The good news was that we also saw another whip snake of the same genus not too far away.

Parents and mums getting their children all prep up for the excursion. Fortunately the rain stopped at 9.20pm.

Herpetologist in action and watched closely by future herpetologists !  Whether is for fun or to eliminate the fear of snakes (ophidiophobia), it was heart warming to see that parents are encouraging their children to join such trips. 

And here is what the group leader has got for them - a handful of frogies. The enthusiasm and tenacity shown by the group leader in explaining and getting the subjects in hand was really appreciated by the group.  

Common Grass Frog (Fejervarya limnocharis)

This frog was indeed found among the weeds and was said to be the favourite food for ikan haruan (snake head fish). 

Common Wolf Snake (Lycodon capucinus)

This was the second snake found in this trip. 

One thing i have learnt from this trip was that not all poisonous snakes have triangle shaped head - cobras (naja naja) and coral snakes (Calliophis) do not have triangle shaped heads. Fortunately this wolf snake is not poisonous but it will not hesitate to bite if annoyed as i was briefed.

There were more frogs than snakes in this trip and here are some of them:

Lesser Stream Toad (Ingerophrynus parvus)

This was the only lone toad found in this trip.

Tanah Rata Frog (Limnonectes nitidius)  

This frog was initially thought to be found only in Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, 

Malaysia but subsequently it was reported that it can also be found in quite a number of places.

Rhinocerous Frog (Limnonectes plicatellus)

You can see a small bulge on its head (between its eyes) where it got its name from.

White-lipped Frog (Hydrophylax labialis)

Another common Grass Frog i believe. Look how well it blended with its surrounding.

Besides frogs and snakes we have also seen other creatures of the night like these ones:

Common Orb Weaver Spider

Giant centipede 

Note: the above centipede is called: "Malaysian Cherry Red Centipede" (Scolopendra spp)

Marbled Bent-Toed Gecko (Cyrtodactylus quaddrivirgatus)

Green Crested Lizard (Bronchocella cristatella)

I think this cicak is half asleep.

Being a birder i did look out for roosting birds, owls etc but unfortunately did not see any. I did however heard a nightjar calling (most likely a large tailed nightjar) (caprimulgus macrurus) as well as a call which sounded like coming from an OMR (Oriental Magpie Robin). Oh yes you can hear lots of other insects' calls in the night and some of which may be quite intriguing. 

Overall  i think everyone was very happy in this trip especially the children.