Us at Dalat, Vietnam, enjoying the breeze.

It was a mad rush to meet the UROPS deadlines and then exams, but NWQ and I have survived. Now that our projects are behind us, we can finally look back, laugh about the funny moments and cringe when we remember our silly mistakes. UROPS was a frustrating, overwhelming and nerve-wrecking affair. But it was also an invaluable, unforgettable and meaningful experience that I am glad to have. I’d definitely encourage students to take up the challenge.

NWQ – “Concentrate, concentrate”.

Me – “We won’t give up!”

The days leading up to the submission deadline saw us frantically hunched over our laptops, stringing sentences together like our lives depended on it. Then suddenly writing was over, and we hurried to rehearse our presentations, polishing and re-polishing after getting mutual feedback. Before we knew it, the storm had passed and we could finally breathe a tremendous sigh of relief as UROPS became part of our past.

Now that holidays are in full swing, with NWQ and I busy pursuing our own activities, UROPS has been at the back of our minds for some time. Until yesterday, that is. I was extremely surprised but also delighted that SingPost chose our study plants (how coincidental is that!) – Simpoh Air (Dillenia suffruticosa) and Singapore Rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum) – for their latest and just-released first day cover. Thanks NWQ for the heads-up! She was taken by surprise too when she chanced upon it. We couldn’t wait to get our hands on it, but also groaned jokingly about the choice of flora and the coincidence of it all.

Have a look!

Clockwise from top left: presentation set, first day cover insert, first day cover.

A peek inside the presentation set.

Close-up of the stamps and the ink chop of a Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis).

Cheers!

Have a look, and try to keep track of the three Striped Tit Babblers (Macronus gularis) and two Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier)!

It’s one thing to see a Striped Tit Babbler dangling unceremoniously upside-down but another to see that it had 4 spectators – 2 that weren’t even from the same species! It was definitely a o.O moment for me. At first, I thought they were playing, but it seemed more like it was genuinely stuck. After capturing the video, I took a step forward with the intention of seeing how I could help the babbler. However, the movement startled the birds and they all flew off into the patch, including the stuck babbler! I looked, and didn’t see any feathers hanging from the vine so I guess it freed itself unscathed. Moments later, chitter-chatter came from inside the patch. If the birds had been playing, that probably was the bulbul scolding me for spoiling their fun D: Blast, maybe I should’ve filmed them for longer…

Any insights/views/opinions about the behaviour of the birds are welcomed!

As I entered the far left of the patch, there was a sudden loud buzzing sound and a dragonfly in a metallic blue hue came into view, less than a metre away. Caught by surprise, I could only marvel at its beauty. More buzzing and an abrupt dart into a stream of sunlight revealed another dragonfly – only this individual was clinging on to the first! Whoa..had the male caught the female in midair or were they already together when I bumbled into the patch?

Previous encounters with dragonflies made me aware of how skittish they can be, so it came as another surprise that these two would land on the edge of a nearby Simpoh Air leaf and not dart off. I hurriedly got out my camera, slipped off my bags, and snapped away. Dragonflies do have superb eyesight so I’m pretty sure that they knew I was there, poking my nose into their private business…

Mating pair of dragonflies (probably Brachydiplax chalybea) in the wheel position.

The blue dragonfly is the male; the female is in brown. Before actual mating, male dragonflies first need to transfer sperm from the primary copulatory apparatus, located at the 9th segment, to the secondary one, found just beneath the wings at the 2nd abdominal segment. Thereafter, they are free to mate with a female, holding on to her using abdominal claspers. If the pairing is successful, the dragonflies assume the characteristic wheel position, said to resemble a heart.

At one point, I leaned too far forward for their liking, prompting the male to take off in a slow flight deeper into the patch. Needless to say, I followed them in as quietly as possible, getting rather uncomfortably aware of being an intruder.

After taking the above few shots, I left the pair alone. If everything did go well, the eggs probably have hatched by now into water-dwelling nymphs, and after a few months, these will emerge as adult dragonflies. As larvae are aquatic, the male probably flew the female to a nearby water source to lay her eggs.

Thanks goes to Nanthinee who helped to ID the dragonflies!

Read more about odonates at the links given under the references. For amazing close-up shots of them, check out cavemanboon’s flickr photostream here.

References:

Ackerman, J. (2006). Dragonfly Mating Game. Retrieved February 15, 2010, from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/04/dragonfly-mating/ackerman-text/1

Dragonchaser. (2008, 5 July). Brachydiplax chalybea. Message posted to http://dragonsndamsels.blogspot.com

Marlin, B. (n.d.). Green Darner Dragonfly – Anax junuis (Drury, 1773). Retrieved February 15, 2010, from http://www.cirrusimage.com/dragonfly_green_darner.htm

Ramel, G. (n.d.). Dragon-flies (Odonata). Retrieved February 15, 2010, from http://www.earthlife.net/insects/odonata.html

Close to 5 pm in very unhappy weather, Wen Qing and I ran out in to retrieve the video camera. We were caught in the rain, but it was all worth it for while replaying the 6 hour long video in 4x, a flutter of brown and white suddenly caught my eye.. Here’s the edited footage

Fascinated with the way the YVB approached and landed on the stem, I cut out stills from the video to have a better look.

Sequence showing how the YVB approached the fruit.

Seems to me that the bird first flew down to inspect the fruit for seeds. Then, after ascertaining that there were, it proceeded to fly up to land on the stem.

Preparing to land.

Coming in to land in the correct orientation required that the YVB first turn itself around.

Touching down.

Touching down is quite a prolonged affair if stills of the movie are viewed one by one. After making contact with the stem, the bird first has to steady itself. And it doesn’t seem easy either since the stem bobs up and down.

Steadying itself.

To steady itself, the YVB flapped its wings several times and repositioned its footing, all the while keeping its head bent forward and low.

Keeping an eye out for danger.

Before eating, the YVB had a good look around to ensure that no predators were about to sneak up on it. It looked left and right before casting a backward glance over its shoulder. And when it had determined that the coast was clear, it was time to eat…

The first 2 seeds were picked out of the fruit and eaten in quick succession.

Holding the third seed in its bill and having a look around.

Before going for the third seed, the YVB had a quick look around. It then picked out the third seed, and while holding it in its bill, it looked around again before swallowing the seed. In the process of doing so, it also uttered a short scritch-scratch call. Wonder what it means/expresses?

Looking if there are any more seeds to eat.

Another bent of the head into the fruit and a rapid survey led the bird to determine that there were no more seeds to pick out. So, it’s time to leave!

Casting a look over its shoulder. Perhaps to check if there are any obstacles/danger behind?

Casting a look over its shoulder, it took off from its perch, where it had spent barely 20 seconds feeding.

Taking off into the skies, or perhaps for another snack.

Thank you, YVB, for visiting the fruit

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

7.05 am - 05+04+02

YVBs calling very loudly, in patch and in trees across from it. Last tagged fruit partially split open.

7.25 am - A YVB foraged on ground and then flew to perch to join its mate (?).

7.30 am - Could be the same pair of YVBs or another pair of mates (?). One perched on shrub right in front of far left of patch while the other dived into the patch. The one perching was there for several minutes before flying off, across the road, without its partner.

A picture of the shrub in front of the patch.

Seems like YVBs are coming out more into the open today. Their activity is certainly high, with several pairs seen calling and flying about. Other birds were also out and about, seemingly more so than usual.

Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos) flew past.

7.50 am - Male and female Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers (Dicaeum cruentatum) dived in and out of the patch. Never observed this before!

7.52 am - Saw the female flowerpecker wipe herself on the Simpoh Air leaves – bathing! <3 the way it’s done, with the bird wiping itself on one side and then switching to the other. Witnessed more of such activity later on, with the male in action too.

8.00 am - 05+04+01

Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) and Yellow-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) mirrored each other in flight, flying very close together and over some distance, the latter flying below the kite. The pair soon flew out of sight. Intriguing behaviour, methinks!

8.08 am - 3 YVBs dived into the patch; 1 at the far right and 2 some distance away.

Tagged fruit number 1.

Tagged fruit number 2.

Tagged fruit number 3.

8.25 am - Pair of YVBs picked on Albizia tree branch (HY).

According to Tan (2001) [1], they also examine the bark for a quick snack. So that’s probably what they were doing – looking to snack on invertebrates!

Unknown lizard sunning itself.

8.55 am - YVB took Dillenia seeds; its mate (?) was on the ground just below it, probably foraging (HY).

9.00 am - YVB ate a fruit from the Jamaican Cherry tree (AL).

9.08 am – 05+04+01
9.?? am - Striped Tit Babbler (Macronous gularis) in patch, diving in and out of leaves. Could not tell if it was feeding or bathing. Spotted by SHY earlier on too. My first time seeing them!

9.55 am – 05+04+01

And here comes the exciting bit: setting up a concealed video camera trained on tagged fruit number 2. To find out how it went, read following post

Further observations/questions:

Need to check the weather records for the months of December and January. Match the day to day pollination of a flower to when it ripens as a fruit. Perhaps that would reveal some answers as to why the yield and quality of ripened fruits are so low…

References

1. Tan, R. (2001). Yellow-vented Bulbul. Retrieved 13 February, 2010, from http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Pycnonotus_goiavier.htm

7.00 am - 12+05

Tagged fruit number 1.

Tagged fruit number 2.

Air was filled with bird calls.

7.30 am -

A White-breasted Waterhen emerged from patch at far right. It used its long bill to probe the ground for food (insects, worms?). As it walked, its tail would move up and down.

7.50 am - 2 YVBs flew into patch.

8.05 am - 13+05

8.50 am - First time seeing a Pink-necked Green Pigeon (male) at the site. It perched on a branch of an Angsana tree for around 5 minutes.

Male Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans).

9.05 am - Thought that the YVBs were finally coming to feed as 3 were spotted flying into patch at the far right.  One entered first, and two followed.

9.30 am - 13+05

9.50 am -13+05

A Campus Security car drove past.

10.55 am - 13+05

4.25 pm - 00+02

Both fruits appear to be very dried out probably due to the very hot weather.

Tagged fruit number 1.

Tagged fruit number 2.

Further observations/questions:

Thought there would be more fruits opening today based on the recce yesterday. Did not expect the yield to be so low. In fact, this is the lowest I’ve ever got. Nevertheless, Louise and I persevered and watched the patch for signs of feeding. Unfortunately, there were none, not even at 11.00 am when I finally left, after observing for 4 hours. I think the lack of activity can be attributed to the low fruit yield with other factors playing a small part, if any. The site has disturbances periodically due to pick-ups driving back and forth that make a stopover at the native plant nursery. At other times, pick-ups drive further in to the sheds where it seems like paint is stored. There are also passers-by. But generally, the site is quiet and ideal for bird-watching, save for the lack of shade when close to afternoon. These same factors were present when the first few observations were carried out in November. Thus, I think something must have changed.

From November to now, the weather has grown warmer and rains have lessened. Could it be said that Simpoh Air is experiencing ‘drought’ conditions? If so, could it be a possibility that the plant is cutting back on energetically expensive processes to save resources? Seed production expends a lot of energy and this could lead the plant to allow only a few viable seeds to form, maybe with one fruit containing all viable seeds, per inflorescence; the rest having a mix (‘white’ seeds – aborted seeds?).

Found this insect crawling on a Simpoh Air leaf when I returned in the afternoon to collect the number tags.

As most of Singapore slept on, ZL and I were already on our way to Kent Ridge Park (KRP) where, hopefully, the multiple walls of Simpoh Air would not disappoint. Save for a hard core team of pro cyclists, a handful of joggers and the occasional car, the park was all quiet at 6 am. Using the narrow beam of light from our pocket torches, we hunted for ripened Simpoh Air fruits in near darkness. A lone jogger asked us what we were doing, and then left us to our own devices.

I can honestly say that that was the most excitement we had during the recce. Simpoh Air is certainly plentiful at KRP, but there were only 4 or 5 ripened fruits in visible range out of the walls of the plant. Only 1 or 2 were in reach. Discouraged, I decided that we should head back to campus, where good ol’ site 1 awaited. While waiting for a taxi to pick us up, I recorded the following four videos. Help in identifying which birds the calls belong to would be greatly appreciated!

Upon reaching site 1, we immediately got to work, searching for ripened fruits, recording the seed count and tying numbered tags. Noticed a lot of these spider webs on the ground!

Numerous spider webs on the ground. What spider makes them?

Close-up shot of a web. The morning dew gathers on the fine threads of the web, sparkling in the early morning rays.

7.05 am – ??+05+20+??+01+??+04

?? represents ripened fruits that are in the process of splitting open, but which still have their seeds concealed.

These fruits looked as if they were going ripened, but got stopped in the process of doing so. Hmm…

7.43 am - Sustained calls of YVBs.

8.00 am - 04+07+20+??+02+02+08+04

Numbers in red represent ripened fruits that were not noticed before (or had not split open previously).

9.00 am - 04+07+20+??+02+02+08+03+04

10.00 am - 04+07+20+??+00+01+08+03+04

Tagged fruit number 3 was still untouched at 10.00 am.

10.15 am - Saw a YVB fly towards the tree above the patch from the ‘home tree’ (Jamaican Cherry Tree?), and then make a sharp U-turn back the way it came.

10.20 am - 4 YVBs flew in quick succession from behind the patch, towards the Jamaican Cherry Tree.

Mid-morning break

11.00 am - 04+07+01+01+00+01+07+03+02

Seeds of tagged fruit number 3 were finally taken (while I had my mid-morning break D:).

11.10 am - YVBs feeding on seeds/leaves (couldn’t really make out) of a tree (legume), possibly an Albizia.

11.15 am - Light drizzle began. YVBs in the unknown tree flew back towards the Jamaican Cherry Tree.

First time seeing YVBs foraging on the ground. Or maybe I haven’t been observant enough…

11.18 am - Female Olive-back Sunbird was seen ‘playing’ among the Dillenia leaves, but did not see it take any seeds. Note: it was probably bathing!

11.20 am - Drizzle stopped.

11.25 am - Plantain Squirrel crossed the road.

11.55 am - Plantain Squirrel (different from the one above) ate petals and flower buds of Dillenia.

12.00 pm - 04+07+01+01+00+01+07+03+02

Could not locate tag number 4 during retrieval.

Towards the end of the observations as I sat baking in the sun with only a umbrella for shelter, a guy working at the Singapore Synchrotron Light Source came up to me (plenty of people have walked past but no one has approached me till today o.o) and we had the following conversation:

Guy: Girl, why don’t you sit in the shade?

Me: Oh no, I can’t. I’m birdwatching.

Guy: Ohh.. I thought you were punishing yourself!

Me: *laughs* Nope, I’m not..

Haha.. That was a welcome distraction from roasting, nonetheless.

Further observations/questions:

Some fruits appear to split open only later on (ie. at least after the first round of counting). However, it could also be the case where such ripened fruits are overlooked as the first round of counting is typically done when the sky is still dark.

The main concern about today’s observation is how subdued the activity was despite the yield and quality of fruits being comparatively good. Cannot help but wonder if it is a coincidence that the seeds in fruit number 3 were all removed except for one during the time I went for a mid-morning break. Could the low/non-existent activity levels be due to my presence (however, the birds carried on feeding slightly past 7 am the first few times observations were carried out) and/or the colour of clothing that I was wearing – red sleeves, white tee and grey pants (but this does not seem that probable either as I did wear more brightly coloured clothing previously)? Is it breeding season now such that the YVBs become territorial (read up on this)? Yet, this is not likely to be the case as a small group of them were seen feeding together on a tree (probably a legume) when I returned from my break. Note: breeding season spans a few months and some YVBs do breed late into the season. Then again, feeding ceased soon upon my return, but it could also be attributed to the brief drizzle that ensued around the same time. Do YVBs vary their food source – maybe they require different nutrients that can only be obtained from varying their food sources accordingly? Do birds ‘learn’ to wake up earlier/later when they ‘realise’, for example, that there is no competition for food (seems that the seeds at the patch is only taken by YVBs, without competition from bigger birds like Pink-necked Green Pigeons)?

Find out about the white and orange seeds – start counting them and the ovules separately?

Film a good quality ripened fruit (make myself scarce) to confirm if the birds really are sensitive to human presence (as today’s survey indicates) or not.

This seems a bit silly but I’ll just include it anyway: could my use of Aerogard (insect repellent) be contributing to the weird behaviour of the YVBs?

It rains, it shines; you get lucky, you don’t.

So, anyway, ZL and I got to the site bright and early. The yield wasn’t too bad, but the quality remained poor save for the last fruit which had 10 red seeds (the kind the birds and I like!).

6.55 am – 05+05+02+00+04+10

Most fruits were partially split open.

Then, at 7.20 am, the inevitable happened. The heavens opened (though not with gusto yet, thank goodness) and it began to drizzle. Rumbles of thunder ensued. So not good…

Predictably, the rain got heavier and sitting on the sloping ground (no matter how slight the inclination is) does not help in staying dry unless one is at the top of the slope, which we were not. In my feeble attempt to fend off the rain, the two of us sought shelter under my umbrella (if Rihanna’s song is playing in your head now, I don’t blame you). Lucky NWQ came along and passed ZL her umbrella on her way out. After many miserable moments sitting in the rain and watching the water creep downwards the slope, I finally decided to call it a day. So at 7.45 am, observations were abandoned due to heavy rain and thunder. Though we escaped a proper soaking, the slope got the better of us. Boo to wet underwear, I say D:

In the evening, I came back to check on the fruits.

Inevitably looking soggy after the heavy rain.

5.00 pm -  00+03+00+01+02+01

Fruit number 4 was not fully split opened when first observed i.e. some segments were still stuck together. It appeared that the fruit had no viable seeds.

Aborted seeds? I must remember to gather some back for analysis.

All of the tagged fruits had fully split open at 5.00 pm. Noticed more fruits than before (could have missed out several as tagging was done when the sky was still dark).

Further observations/questions:

Today’s weather was bad, coupled with fruits of poor quality that yielded few red seeds, most being hard, wrinkled and white. Decided to call it a day at 7.45 am as the rain was becoming heavier, with thunder. Seriously wonder what’s going on as this is the second time in consecutive observations that poor quality fruit has been observed. Need to read up on this, as it may not be the case of non-pollination. Except for a few birds flying overhead, there was no feeding activity was observed.

- Do birds have a hierarchy system such that one ‘team’ stands on guard duty, checking to see if a particular area has high quality food?

- Do the ‘outcasts’ end up going to spots where the fruit yield and quality is poor?

- Does Dillenia suffruticosa send out volatiles to entice birds to take its seeds? (input from ZL)

Must remember to check the weather forecast and plan for trips (including several to Kent Ridge Park)…

It has been almost two months since I last did any observations. Freshly back from abroad, I knew the coming weeks were the REAL crunch time. And so the mad rush to collect data begins…

BUT, rusty as I was, I had not yet quite forgotten just how formidable those winged, six-legged mobile blood donation vehicles were. And so, I unleashed my secret weapon!

Mozzies, you won’t get me this time! Above: insect repellent from Australia that actually smells good and is effective against the Singapore blood-suckers. Muahahahaha.

On a more serious note, I neglected to do a recce the day before and took my chances. There were 5 ripened fruits in total in the patch. Unfortunately, quantity does not equal to quality for each fruit only had a few red seeds with the rest either unpollinated or off-colour. Bad news indeed. What would this mean for the birds?

One of the five fruits. See the numerous white ‘seeds’?

6.50 am - 16+11+18+8+8

Sky still dark. All fruits only partially split open.

6.55 am – Disturbance: engine noise.

7.10 am - First sign of activity pertaining to patch; one bird (probably a YVB) entered the patch.

Thoughts: after looking at the data for the day, this observation set me thinking about bird behaviour. Do they have scouts that are first to fly out and report findings back to the flock??? Or was that this particular YVB that did not know any better?

7.20 am – Sighted a White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) poking around at the far right of the patch.

7.25 am – Human disturbance.

7.40 am – Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) circling overhead.

7.52 am – One person walked past.

Okay, further observations pertaining to passers-by shall be omitted.

7.55 am - One YVB flew into patch.

8.00 am – 16+11+18+8+8

Some YVBs in Jamaican Cherry Tree (Muntingia calabura).

One individual is seen here.

8.30 am - Sighted a Banded Woodpecker (Picus mineaceus).

8.35 am - 3 Javan Mynas (Acridotheres javanicus) seen feeding on leaves? of a legume (?)

ID, anyone?

9.00 am - 16+11+11+8+8

9.10 am – Sighted a Black Baza (Aviceda leuphotes).

10.00 am - 16+11+11+8+8

Tagged an additional fruit that appeared to be in the process of splitting open.

4.35 pm - 00+05+11+4+8

Additional tagged fruit: appeared to be in the same state of partial opening.

Further observations/questions:

Out of the whole patch of Dillenia today, there were only 5 ripe fruits. All were partially split open at 6.50 am but later opened fully, except for fruit number 1. It was evident that the quality of today’s fruits was rather poor, for around half of the seeds in each fruit were unpollinated (?). Also, not all the seeds had the bright red colour; some tended towards orange. As expected, there was no feeding frenzy observed at the expected time of 7 am in the patch, not even behind it (on other days, when there was a higher yield, it was observed that YVBs would also fly behind the patch to feed). There was also little activity in the Jamaican Cherry Tree behind. This raises some questions:

- Are the YVBs able to determine when the fruits will open? If so, do they change their roost the night before/early in the morning to a location where there is a good yield of fruits (can rule out the possibility of them predicting the quality of the fruits since they do not have X-ray vision)?

- In the scenario where the patch has a good yield, but the fruits are removed before the birds wake up, what would happen? Would they still fly down to the patch searching for the fruits? If the birds were allowed to feed for one round but the fruits are removed subsequently, how would they react?

To do: search for papers on Dillenia suffruticosa pollination. Do fruits still form when the flower is not pollinated? If not, what are the white seeds?

Noticed something rather peculiar: a butterfly got on to the cone-shaped pollination organs just like a carpenter bee. Could it have mistaken the flower for a mate? According to Endress (1996), “[i]n all species observed the flowers are nectarless multistaminate pollen-flowers”, though “the spectrum of flower visitors is high, (but) only Xylocopa sp. bees were efficient pollinators”.

References:

Endress, P. K. (1996). Relationships between floral organization, architecture, and pollination mode in Dillenia (Dilleniaceae). Plant Systematics and Evolution, 206(1-4), 99-118.

*Pictures of the Simpoh Air fruits taken by NWQ

Waking up early for three consecutive days whilst sleeping late is no fun, especially when you know mozzies will be feasting on your blood. Free blood donation…

Staring the little terror in the eyes.

Today was when we had a proper encounter with the off-colour seeds (and I’m encountering even more while doing observations in January). Anyway, here are the lines of data:

6.50 am - 20+15+15+02+26+06+06+24+03+03+09

Only 2 ovules became seeds (number highlighted in yellow). Half of the seeds in fruit (number highlighted in green) had seeds that were off-colour – white to orange – that were of the typical size of the usual red seeds.

Only 2 seeds here.

What happened here? The red arrow indicates seeds? that are larger than the ovules. What are they?

7.01 am – Calls of the White-crested Laughingthrushes (WLCTs) were heard.

7.25 am – First calls of the Yellow-vented Bulbuls (YVBs) heard. Compared to the past two days, the bulbuls appeared to stir later.

7.27 am - YVBs start flying from their roost to the large Dillenia patch opposite.

7.30 am - Evidence of sharing one fruit among two bulbuls ie. 2 birds feeding at the same time. Lasted for approximately 2 seconds.

7.37 am – Evidence of YVBs feeding on fruits of Muntingia calabura.

A YVB looking rounder than usual.

7.40 am -

19+00+00+02+00+05+06+24+03+02+00

8.00 am -

19+00+00+02+00+05+06+24+03+02+00

8.30 am -

03+00+00+02+00+05+06+24+03+02+00

9.00 am (became very sunny – could the YVBs have gone to hide?) -

03+00+00+02+00+05+06+24+03+02+00

9.25 am – Back to being cloudy.

9.30 am - 03+00+00+02+00+05+06+24+03+02+00

9.35 am – Commencement of light to moderate downpour.

Between 9.36 to 10.00 am - Several YVBs were seen flying to the large Dillenia patch in the rain.

9.45 am – Distant rumbles of thunder heard.

10.00 am – Downpour became a light drizzle that quickly ceased.

5.15 pm (came back to check on the seeds) – 03+00+00+02+00+00+00+24+03+02+00

For fruit number 6 (highlighted in red), the remaining seeds did not appear to be ripe (and were thus left uneaten?).

This photo was taken earlier in the day. Off-colour seeds were left out of the count.

I would have liked to continue observing the patch for another day, but had to put a stop to it to study for the exams. The next time I’d be back at site 1 would be in January 2010, after returning from an overseas study programme.

Further observations/questions:

Do birds wake up at differing times depending on what time sunrise is? According to http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=236&month=11&year=2009&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1, sunrise times for the 14^th to 16^th November was at 6.48 am. Hmm. Why do the YVBs wake up/become more active at different times then?

Do some fruits of D. suffruticosa open in the afternoon (as a supplement, maybe? From the point of the plant, this would mean that seed dispersal is not limited to the morning. From the birds’ perspective, this would mean that their supply of Dillenia seeds in the morning are not all exhausted. I have observed that partially opened fruits in the morning do split open sometime in the afternoon.

From today’s data, it appears that seeds in some of the opened fruits were ignored though they were right at the edge (and tags were tied sufficiently away from the fruit). Could it be that YVBs have enough food such that they can be picky about what they eat? Or did they just not see the open fruit/aim for better positioned one ie. easy for them to perch and reach the seeds?