AVIAN NESTING 11/100 - Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker

The Sunda Pygmy is the smallest amongst the Woodie in Malaysia minus the Piculets of course. It is very common at coastal plains along Peninsula. In June 2015 we found a nesting in a dead tree trunk in Jeram.  Both the parents tends to feeding of their hatchling but the female do more trips to the nest than the male. The male has a red tinge to its brow.

Later at another  mangrove patch near the rivermouth of Sg Janggut; a party of five were sighted where we witness the 3 juveniles were chasing the parents for food as they forage up down the root bark and  high  storey of the mangroves trees.
 

AVIAN NESTING 10/100 - Black-naped Monarch

The Black-naped Monarch has the most obvious and easily seen nest you can encounter during breeding season in the lowland forest like Bukit Rengit,  Merapoh or Sg Perdik  to name a few localities. Both the birds take the effort to build the nest  usually along trails and road track and at 6-9 feet from the road level.  In late May we saw 2 nests been  made by possibly the same pair at about 20 ft apart from each other  . Eventually this one was selected.

AVIAN NESTING 9/100 - Bronze Drongo

Two Bronze Drongo nest was seen in May 2015 at Taman Negara. Both of them about 25-30 ft high on  an exposed tree. Breeding season can starts as early as February until July. The nest is usually  at the tail end of a  horizontal twin branch. Usually the hatching is done by the female whilst the male will be closeby to protect the nest against intruders.

They are aggressive and fearless birds which they will attack any size birds which threatened
their nest. Some birds like flycatcher and smaller bird would built their nest nearby Drongo nesting to take advantage of their aggressive behaviour.

At one time we actually witnesse one of the Drongo reacted aggressively against a bulbul which wandered too close the nest and it was attacked by the Drongo. The bulbul lost a few feathers for its venture. A feather floated down onto my hand.

AVIAN NESTING 8/100 - Collared Kingfisher

Kingfisher tends to make their nest hole in earth stump or riverine embankment. In the case of the Collared their nest is a hole, either a natural tree hole or a burrow excavated by the birds themselves in a rotten tree, termite mound rather than in earth banks. They will also occupy old woodpecker holes. Both parents take part in incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks. The young birds leave the nest as long as 30 days after hatching. Two broods are often raised in a year. At Kuala Selangor  we saw the Collared Kingfisher improvise  and dug a hole in the softer side of the root ball of dead palm tree trunk which was lying  on the trail.  The exposed nest was easy shooting  for us. I make do with umbrella and poncho covering and remain still to observe their feeding habit.

You can expect at least 2-3 chicks per nesting. There are record of 5 though. Both the parent are responsible to bring food to the nest. Small crabs are the favoured food in coastal regions but a wide variety of other animals are eaten including insects, worms, snails, shrimps, frogs, lizards, small fish. The bird perches almost motionless for long periods waiting for prey. When it spots something it glides down to catch it and then flies back to the perch where larger items are pounded against the branch to subdue them before delivering to the nest.

AVIAN NESTING 6/10 - Coppersmith Barbet

Coppersmith's nest can be left over hole of woodpeckers. Here we saw a pair  trying out the hole in a dead tree trunk. We will not be sure whether they will adopt it or not or wait for some other better hole which was currently occupied..........

The hot dry season has already begun on set of July 2015 in Jeram.