Introduced Species in Singapore – Weavers, Bishops and Queleas

I have written about some of these species before, but a few years have passed and I have additional information to share.

Singapore is unique in some sense as it’s a small, urbanized country with limited suitable bird habitat, as well as being one of the centre for bird trade. Add to this mix is the local practice of releasing captive birds during certain religious festivities. This make for an interesting avifauna composition. The introduced species have a comparatively larger presence than it does elsewhere, both in terms of the number of exotic species as well as overall exotic bird numbers.

This is unfortunate on many counts. One being that the native birds are in danger of being displaced by these introduced species due to competition on an already limited habitat. Beyond displacement of native species, in suitable habitat these alien species may wreak environmental havoc due to their diet and behavioral pattern. Case in point is the Red-billed Queleas, which in their native range pose a big problem to farmers due to their huge numbers (estimated around 1.5 billion breeding pairs) and diet causing immense crop damages1. Also, introduction of birds from elsewhere mean potential spreading of whatever disease they may have, as birds can and do carry with them deadly pathogenic load.

For good reason, bird field guides and checklist do not as a rule put in species names for introduced birds unless their presence in the country have been well established via breeding records. This is because most escapees/releasees are one-off birds or their presence in the country may be temporary before their numbers plunge due to unsuitability of the habitat or poor health condition of the birds. Even if they do start breeding, the small number of the founder population often result in inbreeding, which is deleterious to their long term viability as a species in the new environment.

While all these issues are relevant, in the context of Singapore, having a high proportion of introduced species does pose a problem of identification for the beginner birder. This is especially so since the majority of the introduced grassland birds are of African origin, an area most local birders are not familiar with. So an account of the more common introduced birds will be helpful even if the population and species make up may vary over time.

A long write-up for each species here would result in an absurdly long article. The name and picture, and a brief account of each species is provided. Further information can be read in the external links provided.

Streaked Weaver (Ploceus manyar)
Streaked Weaver

The Streaked Weaver is an old introduced species of Asian origin that has a very localized presence. In contrast to the more commonly found and native species the Baya Weaver, this weaver is streaked at the breast area. Of all the introduced weaver, this is the only one in the official Nature Society (Singapore) Bird Checklist (2014). Nonetheless, in recent years numbers seem to have dropped and it is getting increasingly difficult to find them.

Location found: Punggol/Lorong Halus
Further reading: Link

 

Asian Golden Weaver (Ploceus hypoxanthus)
Asian Golden Weaver

The Asian Golden Weaver is another weaver species with a very localized presence. Not much is known about the date of introduction. In contrast to the other more recent introduced species, this is an Asian species. Nesting has been reported for a number of years at Tampines, but so far, no documentation of successful fledging has been reported.

Location found: Tampines Eco Green
Further reading: Link

 

Golden-backed Weaver (Ploceus jacksoni)
Golden-backed Weaver

The Golden-backed Weaver or Jackson’s Weaver is a recently introduced but fast spreading African exotic species. It was first recorded in 2011 at Lorong Halus. They have been documented to have begun nesting activities. It is likely that their population may increase rapidly in the near future.

Location found: Lorong Halus, Neo Tiew area
Further reading: Link

 

Vitelline Masked Weaver (Ploceus vitellinus)
Vitelline Masked Weaver

The Vitelline Masked Weaver is a bird of African origin. So far, the only sighting have been at Lorong Halus in May 2011. Both male and female of the species have been seen together. The male bird looks similar to the Asian Golden Weaver except for the red eyes.

Location found: Lorong Halus
Further reading: Link

 

Yellow-crowned Bishop (Euplectes afer)
Yellow-crowned Bishop

The Yellow-crowned Bishop or Golden Bishop is probably the oldest recorded Bishop species in Singapore. It has been recorded at Tanah Merah reclaimed land since at least 2001 if not longer2. It is likely that they may have started breeding, but as of today, no breeding record has been reported. Recently, flocks were seen at Punggol Barat on a regular basis.

Location found: Tanah Merah, Punggol Barat, Jurong West, Sunset Way
Further reading: Link

 

Southern Red Bishop (Euplectes orix)
Southern Red Bishop

The Southern Red Bishop is another long recorded Bishop species with sightings at Marina East reported in 20072. Recently, moderately large numbers have been seen in Punggol Barat. In their native range, this species have been reported as rather long-lived, with a record of a ringed bird being at least 13 years old3.

Location found: Marina East (ex), Punggol Barat
Further reading: Link

 

Zanzibar Red Bishop (Euplectes nigroventris)
Zanzibar Red Bishop

Zanzibar Red Bishop looks similar to the Southern Red Bishop. It is distinguished by an entirely red crown and forehead and lack of a red breast-band on the black underparts. Sightings has been reported in May 2011 with 2-3 birds at Tampines Eco Green and Lorong Halus respectively. No subsequent sightings have been reported since.

Location found: Tampines Eco Green, Lorong Halus
Further reading: Link

 

Red-headed Quelea (Quelea erythrops)
Red-headed Quelea

The Red-headed Quelea is a recent introduced species. Not to be confused with it’s cousin species the Red-billed Quelea. First reported in April 20104, further sighting in recent years in larger numbers have been reported. Not much is known about it, but in a few instances, single birds has been found near Baya Weaver nesting, suggesting that they use the weaver’s nest as source of nesting material.

Location found: Neo Tiew area, Lorong Halus
Further reading: Link

 

References:
1. Red-billed Quelea, commonest bird in the world?
2. wildbirdSingapore Yahoo Group
3. Longevity in southern African weavers
4. NSS Singapore Avifauna Vol 24
5. Weaver Research Webpage at the Animal Demography Unit (ADU) of the University of Cape Town

Double rainbow

No extreme emotion on this one compared to some viral video somewhere in the Intertubes.

Double Rainbow

Nice to view a double rainbow over Kranji. Could not fit it into a single photo, so this is merged from a few photos. There are flaws in the stitching but doesn’t matter. It is as I remembered it, with the warm glow of the early morning sun illuminating certain part of the scene.

Rainbow-Jelutong

In contrast, this single rainbow was less eye-catching but the surrounding view at Jelutong Tower was definitely better.

Asian Palm Civet in Singapore

Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), also called toddy cat in English, and musang in Malaysia/Indonesia and sometimes luwak in the latter.

Asian Palm Civet

It is a nocturnal animal, that is good climber. It feeds on fruits mainly but occasionally eats smaller mammals and insects. It also feeds on palm flower sap which when fermented becomes toddy, hence the alternate English name.

It is the same animal that is the source of Kopi Luwak, or civet coffee, one of the world’s most expensive coffee. Made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the animal, then passed through its digestive tract. It is the commercial production of this type of coffee that threatens the wild population of civets as increasing number are captured and ‘farmed’ for the coffee beans.

Asian Palm Civet

In Singapore, civets can be found in forested areas of Singapore and also near urban areas, especially the Siglap area. This particular civet was found at the former Bidadari Muslim cemetery at dusk in October 2012. It was probably the start of it’s evening food round.

Asian Palm Civet

Upon contact with with human, it quickly ran up a tree where it stayed around for a few moments before quickly disappearing into surrounding vegetation.

 

Green Imperial Pigeon – Status in Singapore

The Green Imperial Pigeon (Ducula aenea) is a species of forest pigeon. It a large bird, with green-blue metallic sheen on its wings, back and tail. Its head and underparts are off-white.

Its usual range covers southern Asia from India to Indonesia

Historically, this species have been listed as a resident in small numbers at the coastal area (Gibson-Hill 1949)1

Presently in Singapore, it is listed as a non-breeding visitor with it’s usual stronghold in Pulau Tekong where sightings are more common.

Green Imperial Pigeon

In 2011, they were sighted in the adjacent Pulau Ubin between the months of June and August. Up to 5 were perched on a single tree in one afternoon.

Green Imperial Pigeon

Green Imperial Pigeon

Green Imperial Pigeon

Green Imperial Pigeon

In the mainland, there were sightings in Pasir Ris Park area in early 2012. In March 2013, the birds were seen in an industrial estate in Loyang. Ever since then, they has made regular appearances there, whenever the Macarthur Palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii) fruits in the area.

As an observation, the pigeons swallow the ripe palm fruits whole as the sequence of pictures shows.

Green Imperial Pigeon

Green Imperial Pigeon

With the knowledge of the regular presence of the pigeon in the area, the first report of nesting came in late March 2014, with a single chick hatched subsequently. By May 2014, it seems that the chick has fledged and with that the first breeding record of this species have been documented.

In the span of 3 years, this species appears to have dispersed from Pulau Tekong to Pulau Ubin and then to the mainland. And finally in an unlikely turn of events, it started breeding in an industrial estate, feeding mainly on an introduced exotic palm species.

References
1. Gibson-Hall (1949) A Checklist of the Birds of Singapore Island

Red-billed Blue Magpie – Status in Singapore

The Red-billed Blue Magpie (Urocissa erythrorhyncha) is a striking looking magpie species. As the name suggest, it has a red bill and also red legs. It’s head, neck and breast are black with a bluish spotting on the crown. It’s shoulders and rump are a duller blue and the underparts are a greyish cream. The long tail is a brighter blue.

Red-billed Blue Magpie

It’s usual range cover northern India, the Himalayas, northern parts of South East Asia up to China.

It’s presence in Singapore has been reported dating back to at least 2001 (wildbirdSingapore)1. Reports of sightings have been concentrated mainly in the Southern Ridges, covering anywhere from Mount Faber to Kent Ridge Park and adjacent areas.

It has been speculated that the birds originated from the illegal bird smuggling activities from  the southern coast and outer islands of Singapore as illegal smugglers came in from the Riau Islands, with reports of housing station for these birds located along Pasir Panjang Road (wildbirdSingapore)1

Whatever the case of their origin, the magpies have been around for more than a dozen years with regular sightings ever since with individual sightings of 9-10 birds reported. Have they established a feral population or are the sightings of original released/escaped birds? No one can be certain, as magpies in general can live up to a decade, and breeding records are not available.

What we do know is that these magpies have been mating. This have been observed in April 2013 in the below photographs.

Red-billed Blue Magpie

Notice the position of the male’s legs. One is wedged on the female’s leg to prevent her from jumping off. The other is holding on to the wings of the female to prevent flying.

Red-billed Blue Magpie

The actual act, like most other birds mating is brief and vigorous. No further observations of the fate of these birds as they tend to roam around. No nesting records are known.

So what is their diet?

Red-billed Blue Magpie

The partial answer is that sometimes they visit nearby buildings to rummage through the nearby garbage collection points. Here it is observed eating cooked rice grains from one such building.

What we can conclude is that there magpies are roaming around the Southern Ridges, are adaptable enough to be around for more than a decade, have managed to adapt at least some parts of their diet to reflect their urban settings.

Most of the pictures taken here are from my office building which is opposite Kent Ridge Park over a period of 3 years. And in most of the sighting, they come in pairs or in groups.

I leave you with some more pictures of these magnificent, hardy birds.

Red-billed Blue Magpie

Red-billed Blue Magpie

 

http://youtu.be/Tvr53mWV-Ho

Video taken handheld and stabilized in post. Please pardon the jerkiness.

 

Reference:
1. wildbirdSingapore Yahoo Group

Oriental Pied Hornbill – Ballistic transport feeding

One of the joy of birding is to observe behaviour of birds in the field and then having done so, be educated by a fellow birder as to what it all meant.

I had the opportunity to observe a family of Oriental Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris) flying towards a kampung house at Pulau Ubin. One of the adult proceeded to land on a large papaya tree. This tree happen to have one ripe papaya fruit.

Soon enough the hornbill dug into the fruit itself and then retrieve the flesh. It the proceeded to flip the morsel and then with the mouth wide open, swallowed it whole. This method of feeding is call “ballistic transport” and is practiced by hornbills and toucans.

Oriental Pied Hornbill
The hornbill using its powerful bill to tear into the the papaya fruit.
 

Oriental Pied Hornbill
The flip and swallow routine
 

Oriental Pied Hornbill
A closer look at another instance. Notice the shape of the morsel is different.
 

Oriental Pied Hornbill
Yet another instance, this time at a different, steeper head angle.
 

Oriental Pied Hornbill
After one side is done, it goes for the other side. A messy eater.
 

Oriental Pied Hornbill
In between feeding time.
 

Oriental Pied Hornbill
All the while, the juvenile is perched quietly just below the papaya tree. As it has the same pose, you can compare its relative proportion.
 

Soon after these photos were taken, a group of weekend cyclist came by a bit too close. The whole family flew off to another location, and the papaya was left half eaten.

In summary, we know that Oriental Pied Hornbills like ripe papaya fruits, they tear into the fruit using their powerful bill to retrieve morsels of flesh, are messy eaters and then use ballistic transport to feed themselves.

 

Reference:
Ballistic transport (“flip and catch”) feeding in hornbills

 

The journey continues

It’s been three years since I last posted. The last post was celebrating my first year of birding and the accomplishments that went with it. It reads like a resume now rather than an article and I highlighted things big and small, but at the time it felt important.

I suppose in actuality not much have changed. I still pursue this hobby with goals in mind and in truth, with an even more determined mindset after the first year. But enough of listing ‘accomplishments’ as it seems rather self-indulgent. Instead, there are some stories to tell and memories to jot down.

So let me start by posting butterflies instead of birds. The Great Orange Awlet (Burara etelka) is a rarely seen butterfly as it prefers to be active during dawn and dusk. It’s hard to miss though if it’s around, due to it’s intense orange colour. I was lucky to have seen this one at Jelutong Tower in the early morning.

Great Orange Awlet

 

After Jelutong Tower, I went walking on the trails where I met the female and male Saturn (Zeuxidia amethystus). They’re really good at camouflage and will only reveal themselves by flying away when the intruder gets close.

Saturn

Saturn

 

And lastly, a Common Faun (Faunis canens). I don’t know much about this butterfly, but hopefully in the future will be able to write more.

Common Faun