sgbeachbum: waterhen

The undergrowth was abuzz with chirping as I walked past it and the chirpers soon showed themselves chasing after their parent waterhen as it went about looking for breakfast for its hungry brood of three little jet-black long-legged downy balls.

Two of the chicks seemed to be more dependent on the parent and rarely strayed more than a half a metre from it. The third was however more independent and did not seem to mind being away from the protective wings of the parent bird. The parent bird extended back its wings as if to provide shelter for its brood eventhough the chicks seemed a little big to all fit under the umbrella at the same time.

The parent bird went about picking grass seeds for the chicks which were obviously in a somewhat vertically challenged state.

white-breasted waterhen & chicks @ lorong halus, singapore - 20Dec2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Find out more about the white-breasted waterhen here :

http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Amaurornis_phoenicurus.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-breasted_Waterhen

http://singaporebirds.net/npassers_02/white-breasted_waterhen.html(incl. audio link)

http://www.besgroup.org/2011/03/22/call-of-the-white-breasted-waterhen/ (w. video)

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/white-breasted-waterhen-amaurornis-phoenicurus

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Amaurornis-phoenicurus (incl. audio links)

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/birds/rails.htm

http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-white-breasted-waterhen.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZLv30uzd44 (a nice clip by iHengbok)

Monday, March 5, 2012

hunting waterhen @ pasir ris - Feb 2012

White-breasted waterhens are probably one of the most common bird species seen in our parks, gardens, mangroves and in fact just about anywhere there is a body of water...and in some places far away from water too.

I've always wondered what they eat and where they go about looking for food. I was fortunate to come across one at the Pasir Ris mangrove boardwalk and it did not seem very bothered with me being just only about 2 metres from it. It was amazing to me how accustomed the bird was being in close proximity with visitors on the boardwalk. The Pasir Ris mangroves are truly a magical place for budding birdwatchers!

It was about 5.45pm and the bird was out walking about the drainage channels and turning over dead leaves which had settled on the muddy ground. As it turned over the leaves and discarded them to the side, a bare patch of mud or sand was uncovered. The waterhen very quickly pecked at the ground as if it had seen a small worm or crab which had been suddenly exposed by the removal of the leaves.

This particular section of mangrove housed many mangrove tree climbing crabs as well as burrowing crabs. I did not see the waterhen eating any crabs that time but have a reasonable hunch that crabs do play a big part of its diet, amongst other things, at the Pasir Ris mangroves ... especially the smaller crabs.

Read more about the white-breasted waterhen here :