Monday, October 02, 2023
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Yellow-Eared Spiderhunter

A pair of Yellow-eared Spiderhunter with a somewhat strange behavior. Wonder what they were up to? This was recorded near the office of the Rainforest Discovery Centre in Sepilok, Sabah, Malaysia.

Update (08 July 2013) : I met a couple of birders at the recent Borneo Bird Festival in Sepilok and mentioned this behavior to them. They said that some male birds who suspect that a rival male could have mated with its female mate would sometimes try to remove the sperm of the rival this way. 

I read further that this 'cloaca pecking' behavior is also seen in dunnocks in what is termed as a 'sperm competition'. It is believed that male birds peck at the cloaca to get the female to eject sperm that could be stored internally in tubules. In doing so, the male bird would likely increase its chances of parenting its own chicks and not of its rival.

WILD NOTEs

Spider Monkey in Costa Rica

Latest capture by Chin Hock in Costa Rican rainforest. I wonder why this monkey needs a prehensile tail when it can swing without one.

 


Saltwater Crocs of Singapore

Two 2m plus crocs came out to play today (22Feb'14). Easy to spot them from the main bridge of Sungei Buloh.


Tame tiger shrike in Bukit Tinggi Japanese Village

Find this photogenic shrike at the Plant Nursery at the Japanese Village.

 

WILD SHOTs

 

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The Banded Broadbill

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The Dusky Leaf-monkey


Creature Feature

It's been a wonderful Christmas 2013 with family all around; even better now with the sighting of this pair of adult Siamangs at the Botanical garden of the Japanese Village, Bukit Tinggi.

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