MOST UNUSUAL BIRD BEHAVIOR.... 2011

This happened in April 2011.  In Denawaka; a village off Malwala on the Ratnapura Palabaddala Road to Adams Peak. I was assigned to the construction of a mini-hydro project across Denawaka Ganga the main tributary of Kalu Ganga.  My living quarters were beside the road from Malwala to Balangoda via Rassagala.

It had a small garden that the owners living in the lower ground area maintained and was just opposite my window in the upper-ground area.

Black-naped Monarch and Indian Paradise Flycatcher in their nests -Pic Curtsy Wikipedia  

I noticed a pair of Black-naped Monarchs busy, nest building opposite my window on a liana scaling skywards in this garden patch in early April 2011. Every morning before going to work, I noted the progress of the nest and was a bit nervous to part with the Monarchs when soon it will be time to go home for the Sinhala /Tamil New Year that came in the second week of April.  

Back to work after the holidays, I noticed the two eggs laid in the nest and the birds were taking turns incubating them. The climate during this time in the Peak Wilderness was not at all favorable for brooding birds but they did brave the thunder and rain that was to fall on the last two days of the month

On 28th April 2011, I was away in Colombo at a workshop. I inspected the Monarch nest before leaving and she was seen trucked up neatly in the nest. It was 6:00 am when I left for Colombo.

I was back in Ratnapura late in the night and was too tired to check on the nest. But the following morning (29th April 2011) I saw the nest abandoned. I was tilting to aside with the two eggs about to fall out. My immediate reaction was to inquire about the nest from the cook boy and caretaker of what came by the nest.

His story was almost unbelievable….During the day he had seen the Indian Paradise Flycatcher (male) that also foraged about in the garden sitting on the Monarch nest. But he had not noted the damage to the nest until then. "Not all persons are crazy about nature and birds I realized."     

The nest with the two eggs had taken a heavy beating from the night rain and was soggy and delicate to be positioned manually without further damage. The Monarchs were now calling out and flying about the nest unable to sit on the tilted cup. Not much that I could do and preferred nature to take precedence.   

On the 29th evening, the nest was found to have detached from the main liana attached to the bush and was hanging from a supporting strand. One egg was still held in it and the other gone missing. I did not find the Indian Paradise Flycatcher. The destruction cannot be by a Palm Squirrel, for it would not keep the other egg in the nest.

I am still trying to figure out the behavior of the Indian Paradise Flycatcher? This bird at this time in the wet zone could be a straggler migrated from India or from the dry zone (there are proven records of a local migration from dry zone to the wet zone of the native species).  It could be the bird in its breeding instincts sat on the nest which is similar in shape to its own, but this was smaller and less sturdy. I did not see any female Indian Paradise Flycatchers about the garden to be a prospective mate for it. It is disappointing to have missed the photograph of the Indian Paradise Flycatcher sitting on the nest though.

Please let me know if you have observed such unusual breeding behavior before.

Today with Google facilities to check back of such behavior it is noted that both the Indian Paradise-flycatcher and the Black-naped Monarch both are noisy birds uttering a common sharp skreek call. It breeds from May to July. Both male and female take part in nest-building, incubation, brooding, and feeding of the young. Three or four eggs are laid in a neat cup nest made with twigs and spider webs on the end of a low branch. This description matches quite like that of the Black-naped Monarch's nest building. There is but a record of an interspecific feeding case noted with paradise flycatcher chicks fed by Oriental white-eyes.

Therefore there seem to be some noteworthy interruptions and interactions related to the Indian Paradise Flycatcher's breeding behavior.

I did forward this observation back then when social media was limited to Emails, to Mr. Jagath Gunawardane and the FOGSL. Both institutions took note of the scenario and conveyed the interest of the observation.

This is also recovery from my old hard drive that crashed with many such recordings,,,,, this I would be of interest to bird enthusiasts. The photographs are not that clear as my better camera was not in Ratnapura then. My intension was to photo record the breeding behavior of the Black-naped Monarch from my window which ended thus with an unsolved mystery.