Caption - Mothballing

Welcome to Monday Photo Captions!

Enjoy the captions contributed by fellow bloggers and leave yours for the last two photos.

Selected ones will be posted next Monday with links to your blogs.

For those who are keen to know, the bigger insect below is a hornet while the smaller one is a moth.
They were both drinking nectar from the longan flowers harmoniously.
No bloodshed was found at the scene.

Stewart M : My biology teacher told that me a wasp mimic would keep me safe - I have a feeling he got it wrong!

Bananaz : What else can you do beside mothballing?

Bom : Oof! I need to lose weight. So much easier to get to the top when you are small and light.

One : Strangely, the pairing of orange and black dominates the runway these days.

Thank you to all who contributed to the captions.

Send in your captions for the last two images by this week.

All comments are welcomed too.

May you have a joyful week ahead!

Linking up with :

Mellow Yellow Monday
Macro Monday
Creative Exchange
Our World Tuesday
World Bird Wednesday

A Touching Scene with Baby Koels

I have much to share but very little time so I'll keep this short.

The above is a female Asian Koel looking out for figs.
I had posted on the male Asian Koel earlier.

So far, I have yet to see them feeding their babies.

Baby Koels are seen perching on a Chempaka Tree (Michelia champaka).

As you can see, they are pecking the tree bark, possibly consuming little critters found on the tree.

For your information, the white flower of this tree offers an exotic scent during the night and early morning.

These baby Koels, a male and a female, deserve a special mention.

This male fledgling could have consumed the figs directly from the fig tree but instead he picked one with its beak and flew towards its waiting and calling sister.

The male fledgling actually fed the sister several times.

I find this action very strange and touching too.

Since the mother lays its eggs on others' nest, I suppose the fledglings could have gotten evicted before they are ready to fend for themselves.
Isn't it nice to have a big brother like this one?
He is but a fledgling himself.

19 Dec 2011 Update


The Asian Koels have red eyes and so do the Asian Glossy Starlings.
However the beak of the Asian Glossy Starlings are black but the Asian Koel's beak is much lighter.
These small birds that looked like the juvenile of the Asian Koels are actually Asian Glossy Starlings.
The black Asian Glossy Starling was feeding a juvenile Asian Glossy Starling in the second last photo.
To date they have remained small and definitely do not look like they are growing into the size of an Asian Koel.

Asian Koel

This bird may look like a crow but it is actually an Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus).

It is bigger and its tail is much longer compared to a crow.
It has glossy bluish-black feathers with bright red eyes.

Both the photos above are of a male Asian Koel.

The female looks quite different.
This couple has been hanging around for a few months because of the delicious 'fig' tree that I grow.

The Asian Koel is a brood parasite that lays its eggs on the nest of crows or other hosts.

Today, we feel very excited to see at least 5 young Koels, consisting both male and female.

They were out with the father hanging around the fig tree.

The Asian Koel are largely frugivorous.

(A frugivore is a fruit eater.)

Although the adult feed mostly on fruit, the young do consume insects, eggs and caterpillars.

So far, my hubby and I haven't manage to get any great shots of these birds yet.
Tomorrow we may try disguising ourselves as a bush and hopefully capture more acceptable photos than these.

Note : This vigorous growing tree was purchased from the nursery without a name but I believe it is a fig tree.