breathing space: naturalhistory

Showing posts with label naturalhistory. Show all posts

Saturday, May 6

The pigeon hunter

For the 6th straight year, we have observed that the grounds of the Ateneo was home to a magnificent hunter: a migrant Peregrine Falcon!

During the migratory season, I look forward to Abby F's announcement that the groundskeepers have spotted the falcon and that he has started his annual pigeon hunt.

In February, Adri and I dropped by the communications towers which serve as his resting, lookout and eating area. Rock pigeon carcasses littered the ground! There were also several remains caught up in the beams and platforms of the communications towers.

A few of several pigeon carcasses on the ground - mostly just the wings left behind.

Several more pigeon carcasses caught in the communications tower (including a head!)

On one of the small trees under the tower hung a pair of wings that belonged to a racing pigeon. On its legs was a green numbered band - a sure sign that some human owner had lost a prized possession to nature's swiftest hunter.

And a few caught in the trees below the tower.

I hope that the falcon's taste for pigeon flesh will not put it in a bad light with pigeon fanciers. This is not an exclusively local problem, and I hope it will not escalate to a point that these beautiful raptors will be put in danger.

That afternoon though, despite the clear evidence of its arrival, we failed to see the falcon. He (it could be a she) was probably off chasing pigeons... literally.

After having secured permission from the administration to regularly check on that particular field to document the falcon, Adri and I decided to try one Saturday morning.

Adri quickly spotted him on one of the towers. As a pair of security personnel passed beneath, the falcon flew to another tower on the further edge of the field. At first we had a difficult time finding a good angle to observe him. He was wisely staying close to the network of beams and cables, which not only hid him from sight, but also shaded him from the bright morning sun.

Sometimes awake...

We watched him for over an hour, hoping he would come out and hunt. But no, all he did was preen and nap!

Once in a while a single or flock of pigeons would fly overhead, getting Adri and I excited in anticipation of some action. But all Mr. Falcon would do was gaze at the passing pigeons as they flew by, and go back to sleep!

But mostly asleep!

We thought that he probably already had his fill, and hunted during the cooler hours of dusk and dawn. They have even been reported to hunt in the evening!

The groundskeepers and gardeners were all familiar with the falcon,
but Adri's scope gave them close-up views!

He was also woken up by a pair of resident White-breasted Woodswallows who couldn't help but check him out with a close flyby. They probably were getting ready for their annual tower nesting - maybe not a good idea with a migrant raptor still hanging around!

Resident White-breasted Woodswallows sharing their field.

Whether it was the pesky woodswallows or the moving sunlight, the Peregrine finally moved out of the shadows of the steel maze and gave us a clearer view.

A beautiful digiscoped photo of a beautiful raptor.

What a handsome bird!

After a couple of hours, it still looked that he had no plans of moving and so we packed up our optics and bid the raptor goodbye.

See you again next season Mr. Falcon! May the University grounds provide you with a safe haven every year!

Wednesday, May 11

Wings of the fallen

Summer time on campus usual means less schoolwork and more time for guided bird walks. This year, summer falls at the tail end of the new school year, but we still got to fit in 3 bird walks at the and of March until mid-April!

At this time of the year,a bird walk yields a very active resident bird population: long-tailed shrikes, collared kingfishers, black-naped orioles, barred rails, Philippine magpie-robins, Philippine pied fantails, pied trillers, coppersmith barbets, lowland white-eyes, golden-bellied gerygones, white-breasted woodswallows, yellow-vented bulbuls and zebra doves are part of the typical bird list. An overstaying brown shrike or two give a great example of a common migrant.

Strangely though, the highlight of the recent bird walks is not the flash of blue as a kingfisher flies by, or a pair of bright yellow orioles calling loudly from an acacia tree. It isn't even a pair of hard-working shrikes feeding their young on a nest in the parking lot.

The highlight comes towards the end of the walk. And it isn't exactly a pretty sight. Or even a live bird.

(Pretty gruesome sight is more like it!) On our first walk we discovered that the back of the observatory was littered with rock (racing) pigeon wings!

The students ran around counting more than 15 pairs of wings on the ground! Some with the tail still attached, or part of the breastbone.

We knew at once of course what these were: the remains of the prey of our annual visitor: Peregrine falcon food!

It was amazing to see how much he had caught. He must be a pretty efficient hunter! I had actually spotted him in the middle of March hovering over the parking lot with a pigeon (almost as big as him!) gripped in his talons.

One of the students even found a one and only pigeon head:

When we looked up at the tower, we saw more carcasses on the platform. This was one big time hunter!

Unfortunately, it was only the first group of the three who had the privilege of actually seeing the falcon. He was up on the tower, being mobbed by the woodswallows.

Still, even in his absence, the last two groups were able to appreciate the presence of a raptor on campus.

The prey he left behind spoke on his behalf.

Friday, February 3

another one bites the dust...

and the second item on the menu sir is house lizard.

we apologize that your favorite kafir lime branch is currently unavailable, but here's a nice rose bush vine that's just as thorny.

we hope you enjoy your meal and come again soon!

Friday, November 11

the industrious ants

while waiting for the female violet cuckoo to reappear last week in tanay, i accidently disturbed an ant nest. i was kicking around the smooth stones lining the path, looking for fossils, when i found this under one of them:

(click the photo for a larger view)

the poor things suddenly rushed into a frenzy to bring their clean, white eggs to safety! amazingly, in less than 2 minutes, every single one of the eggs was gone from the exposed hole! in what seemed to me like organized chaos, each ant had carried egg after egg to a more secure location. all that was left was clean and bare dent in the soil which had no trace of the treasure that had been stashed there.

pretty cool if you ask me!

(i've heard ant eggs are a delicacy in some provinces, although i've never tasted or even seen them. seeing how small they are, it must take a lot of ant eggs to make a big enough snack!)

Tuesday, October 18

haiku for a frog

you will hop no more

swift but untimely your death

your spirit moves on

dedicated to the latest victim of backyard brown shrike

Tuesday, October 4

look what the typhoons blew in...

as the wind and rain of back-to-back typhoons pedring and quiel blow and pour, there is an uneasy truce in the backyard.

the migrant brown shrike has arrived in the garden, much to the dismay of the current ruling species, the pied fantail (well, at least i imagine the pied fantail must feel something akin to dismay). yesterday, i saw a pair of fantails still whizzing across the garden to catch insects from their favorite pot perches, while the brown shrike picked at something it had caught and impaled on the kafir lime bush. a noisy skirmish would transpire when they would meet up at the gumamela bush and the swing base, ending with both parties retreating to their secured territory. the bulbuls must be amused at this tug-of-war for dominance over the backyard.

unfortunately, if all goes the way of previous years, the resident fantails will be relegated to the next door empty lot and the high canopy of the mango tree while the brown shrike will rule over the yard for the rest of the season until summer.

the pied fantail's days of lording of the backyard will soon be over... until summer that is

the brown shrike, the new boss of the backyard, back with his old murderous ways

hardly a week since it arrived, adri and i already caught the shrike with a victim. another poor tree frog slaughtered into choice meat sections strung up on the thorns of the kafir lime. once again the small head was pierced thru its eye socket, and limbs suspended at the joints. flies and the stench of death surround the crime scene.

flies hovering over a poor decapitated tree frog's head, pierced thru its eye socket

spindly legs, still with a lot of muscle, blood vessels and skin...

the brown shrike making the most of its latest victim/meal

(try to ignore the panting dog in the background... it's just maggie)

small animals of the backyard beware. the butcher is back.

Saturday, August 20

metamorphosis complete!

and on the seventh day... the butterflies emerged!

it was truly amazing to watch. when i woke up on sunday morning, the chrysalides had turned completely transparent and i knew it was time! i hurried my mom and sisters through sunday morning market (hurry! my butterflies are coming out! i need to be home).

a sleeping tiger

remember there were originally four cats we found on thursday? well, one disappeared on monday (much to my mom's consternation: "you mean there's a caterpillar walking around the house?!?!") only to be found as a butterfly flying around the house on friday (mom thru text: we found the caterpillar, it's a butterfly")! then of the three left, i missed the first eclosion (was still at the market). adri was there to witness the second eclosion (which i wasn't able to film correctly - the actual emerging from the pupal case is faster than you would think) and finally the third eclosion... well i have this video to share with everyone.

i hope you enjoy watching this wonderful miracle of life.

later, we released all 3 butterflies into the garden. the male and one female hung around for several hours. hopefully we (or our neighbors) will get hungry little plain tiger cats in their gardens soon!

drying their wings in the sunshine, female at the back, male in the foreground

get a whiff of those male pheromones!

Tuesday, July 26

leaving the nest

i absolutely love seeing (& watching of course) fledglings with their parents in the garden!

it means that the cycle of life is still in motion, and that my neighborhood is still a welcome place for the birds.

this year, the pied fantails seem to have only one fledgling... there's only one persistent young bird continuously badgering its parents. it's amusing how they would fly in circles around our house, taking off to the right and appearing a minute later from the left! a couple of years ago, there were 5 fledglings in hot pursuit of their dad/mom! it must be a never ending "feed me! feed me!" for these committed parents. but this young one has learned fast and has become quite an expert in snatching flies and other goodies from just above the grass. its graceful maneuvers are mesmerizing, with loud clicks of the wings (beak? i could never figure it out) with each turn. still, nothing beats begging for free food from mom/dad!

right on time for rambutan season, adri & i were delighted to see this pair of colasisis feasting voraciously on the first fruit to ripen! as with every year, these little parrots were oblivious to our staring eyes. little wonder, since their red and green blend perfectly with the rambutan tree. it's difficult to spot them once they land if not for their noisy chatter which gives them away! adri had a grand (and intense!) photo op last weekend with this pair. the immature bird playfully lives up to its name of philippine hanging parrot.

i suppose these fledglings will stay with their parents for a few more weeks after leaving the nest, learning to find food and avoid predators and interact with others of their kind: survival camp for the birds.

and the cycle continues...

(as usual, thanks to adri for the wonderful photos!)

Wednesday, March 16

on today's menu...

... we caught backyard brown shrike with this juicy tidbit.

at first we though it was another unfortunate frog (remember this meal from last year?), but looking at the photo now, it looks like a little lizard that lost its tail (and it's head!). yumyum.
i'm worried that the backyard shrike still seems to be on the slim side. the days are getting longer and warmer. i hope he gets fattened up in time for the long journey back home.

Wednesday, January 6

of butchers, murders and food

By this time of the year, the brown shrike rules our backyard. Only the yellow-vented bulbuls are brave enough to visit our garden with the brown shrike patrolling the yard from his strategic perches: the clothesline running across the yard, the rose bush, the bagawak. But his favorite perch is the kafir lime bush which my mom planted to flavor her thai cooking. The kafir lime is planted in the center of the garden against the back wall. It is a thorny bush and is proof of why the brown shrike is often called the butcher bird.

Quite the gourmand, our brown shrike and i seem to share another of my garden favorites: frogs! Frogs for me to watch (out for), frogs for him to eat! Having a raptor-like beak is not enough for the brown shrike to tear apart its meals: its feet are too small and weak to hold its prey that it has to impale its prey so it can deftly cut up its food into bite-sized pieces. During the Christmas break i espied our nasty little boarder on the kafir lime relishing something bloody on its beak. As soon as it flew off to inspect something else which caught its fancy, I did my own investigating. At first I couldn’t make out what I was looking at…

and then I realized: it was a little tree frog’s head!

Well, what was left of the head. It was not so delicately skewered through its eye socket, a thorn pushing out one of its eyeballs. Oh yum.

I was careful not to disturb our backyard boarder’s crime scene/dinner table and backed off. As soon as I was what the shrike probably presumed a safe distance away, it
immediately came back, looked at me suspiciously and proceeded to finish its meal.

Hmph, did it think I was going to steal its prized catch? (Anyway, I would’ve thought the eyeballs would be very tasty and it really shouldn’t leave the best things for last.)

To my surprise, he jumped to another branch and another and another, where he seemed to have stocked up on other frog parts! A leg here, another leg there, something I couldn’t figure out elsewhere. Sly bird! Like his name-sake he had divided the carrion into several choice cuts and distributed them throughout the plant! As soon as he had gorged himself, he took a long look at me (“ha! I ate everything, nothing left for you to steal!”) and took off. Feeling stupid for having missed body parts, I made another careful inspection of the thorny bush. Wow, this bird kept quite a larder! There was an entire desiccated frog skeleton hung out to dry! Probably the remains of a previous meal. Such a high calorie diet has fattened up our brown shrike who will be going on its long journey back north in a few months.

The entire affair has added to my list of “why it’s nice to have frogs in the garden even if they jump out at you from nowhere”. (Also another list: “why all the other birds are afraid to come to the garden from September to April”)

King of the backyard patrolling from the clothesline... for now.

P.S. A week later, we were having lunch at the famous Cely’s near the Nepo Mart in Angeles City and one of my cousins ordered betute (dressed frog stuffed with minced meat). I couldn’t help but remember our backyard boarder who prefers frogs on his menu as well.

Monday, August 10

neighborhood woodpeckers

These two philippine woodpeckers have been regular visitors to the ylang ylang tree in front of our house the past few days.

The Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker is an endemic.

Before joining the bird club, I never knew there were woodpeckers of any kind in the Philippines, much less in our very urban neighborhood!

Now, the sharp trills of these tiny woodpeckers signal their presence, and I find them amusing to watch climbing up (or down) and around tree trunks, sometimes even hopping backwards!

I think these two have a nest nearby (maybe the big acacia across the street) because yesterday, they kept flying back and forth to the ylang ylang from that direction.

Just one of the many non-maya birds in the neighborhood. Watch out for them in your backyard!

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