Dedalu - mistletoe - Dendrophthoe pentandra

Follow up to yesterday posting.
I search for that mistletoe plant.
There are so many of it at the mango tree at my neighbor's backyard across a stream. You can easily recognize it with the color contrast, light green / yellowish compare to dark green mango leave.
Until yesterday, I consider 'dedalu' as as a pest. Parasitic plant that kills trees. I have removed a few of them from a mango tree in front of my house.
Now that I know a pest to another can be a food and of value to others. God creates things for a reason, we human have to study it and  appreciate it.
From Wikipedia.
"A broad array of animals depend on mistletoe for food, consuming the leaves and young shoots, transferring pollen between plants, and dispersing the sticky seeds".

"Thus, rather than being a pest, mistletoe can have a positive effect on biodiversity, providing high quality food and habitat for a broad range of animals in forests and woodlands worldwide".



This is a Malay proverb, that only highlight a negative aspect of mistletoe:-

"Seperti dedalu api hinggap ke pohon kayu: hinggap ke batang, batangnya mati; hinggap ke ranting, rantingnya patah".

Meaning:- The evildoer will destroy the good person.

I got the name after searching the Net.
Dendrophthoe pentandra, same picture here.

Mistletoe seeds

I didn't know this yellow thing that dangled at the branches until Prof YC Wee posted my Bee Eater feeding habit at BESGroup site here.



The seeds picture here (from Wikipedia).
Another reference here.

Orioles - courtship II

This pair perched very high at a 'petai tree' (Parkia speciosa).

Singing and chasing reach other from tree to tree.





Old posting of the same species courting.

Orioles - courtship

I was observing the Black-naped Orioles courtship behavior, when this pair suddenly perched at the banana tree very near to me.

This full framed shot was not sharp, because I was in a hurry positioning my lens.



The oriole on the left 'talking' or singing, while its mate listened.


Now, the other turn 'talking'.

I don't know which one is male or female. Can you guess?.

Birds at Kapok Tree

What was at that Oriole's bill?. An insect?.
It didn't look like a butterfly. Actually a folded dry leaf that fall off a split second after I shot this picture. Maybe its making a nest somewhere near that kapok tree. Time for more observation.








From a far, that Juvenile Asian Glossy Starling looks like a kapok's pod. Only when the bird move, than I can see it.

Juvenile Munia

Spotted a flocks of this Munia that I have not seen before this evening. Initially thought it were Dusky Munias. I opened the book, but Adult Dusky munia is dark in color.
I search the net, and found that its was a 'Juvenile Scaly-breasted Munia (Lonchura punctulata). I have seen the adult, which are very easy to identify with scaled feathers on white breast.

I look that juveniles munia appear similar to juveniles of other species (ref: here)



'Juveniles often form their own flocks after leaving their parents, and wander about together'.
(Ref: here) . That why I have not seen that adult within the flocks.




















Here the adult that I shot in December 2007.









Image of adult and juvenile together here.
(Oriental birds image) © Supriyo Samanta

KING Fisher - sound and video

My first bird Video of White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smymensis) - sorry for poor quality.
Recording with an old bulky Sony Handycam DCR-TRV38.
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Yellow-vented Bulbul - a video

Tried using You-TUBE this time, as I'm having trouble with my my blog format with google 'blogger video'

Black-Naped Orioles Beak Color

(Oriolus chinensis)

Juvenile (Left), with black beak compare with Adult - pink colored bill.













Juveniles

Online Birds Book - Robinson & Chasen

The Birds of the Malay Peninsula, Vols 1 - 4 (1927 - 1939) - Robinson & Chasen - HERE.
(from Raffles Museum in Singapore).

Firdaus looking for birds

My son (Firdaus) has been looking for this nest on and off for weeks. Look like this bulbul's nest no longer active.
No eggs inside and the birds not attended to it.
This nest was at the top of mangosteen tree, very well hidden from side and top. He used the ladder to peeped inside. Studies show only 30% of nesting end successfully. Here the link to a very good photos and documentation about yellow-vented bulbul nesting. (Click here, by D. HO from NaturePhotographicSociety Singapore)


Firdaus looking for Adult Common Iora, under the Cempedak tree.

He as so worried about the baby iora left alone by the mother

The arrow shows where the chick perched.

Insect (Cricket) - "Pelesit"

I found this "cengkerik" bush-crickets (known as katydids in America) , in my house recently.

My mother-in-law said this is "pelesit", and someone send it to our house. She tried to kill it with 'penyapu lidi' (broom made from spines of coconut leave), but the insect flew away. This is just an innocent cricket that attract to the lamp and lost in the house.
Here another almost similar species I found from the net.

Squirrel

No interesting birds to shot today, but this squirrel feeding on coconut leaves caught my attention.


ID: Horse-tailed Squirrel (Sundasciurus hippurus)








On close inspection of its mouth, it was not the leaf BUT.... (please click the picture for close up view).










a new competitor for the same type of food.











Now this Sunbird have nothing left to eat.












just a small black ant, no big green larvae.

Cage Birds and Hamster

We just have a looked at a pet shop a few days ago.





Albino budgies








Opaline budgies
More info about this bird here.
(Reference: Wikipedia)









Actually my sons (and daughter), wanted to keep this species as a pet. Firdaus like this "Si-Gebu" very much. Alas, their mother would not allow it. She is afraid of that little hamster, actually not afraid but 'geli' (tickled) on seeing that thick fur thingy.

IMU Medical Student - Family Medicine practicle

This IMU medical student, (no need to mention name), but she is from Raub - doing her practical at my clinic for five days. Actually I'm not a teacher, but just showing her a normal every day medical cases in general practice.
She is a third student that doing practical here (so far one from MU and two from IMU).






Noted the Starling Family picture that I framed at the wall behind.

Juvenile Common Iora - in the rain

Calling her mom.












Preening to keep the wing dry.












all wet. "sejuknya!"

Common Iora - feeding her chick

Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia) feeding her baby with a grasshopper.











This time with 'yellow thing', what is that?.

Juvenile Common Iora - just fledged

Very cute with fluffy feather



It roosts at this branch from 7.00 pm to 7.00am.








The perch was so low, about ten feet from the ground.
Since the mother was not around, my son afraid that the chick will get hurt from prey or something. He wanted to take it inside the house.
I said that the chick was well camouflaged among the green Cempedak (Artocarpus integer) leaves. Unless the chick fell down, we just leave it alone.
True enough this chick survived the night. When I send my children to school at 7.00am it was still sleeping. I checked it again at 8.00am, it was not there, probably following the mother.

Birding location - My Backyard

07:02 am - Sun rise













My favorite birding spot.
View straight out from back door.

Center background - dead teak tree.
Right foreground - Flowering rambutan tree.
Just outside the fence is a small stream with a lot of banana trees on the bank.







There you see my back door.
I place my camera + tripod and start shooting from there. No camouflage needed.

This picture was taken from under the rambutan tree.








08:26 am

No bird at that dead teak tree this morning.