Another barbet death

Where to begin with today's post? We observed at yesterday's site again today, and we still only saw one adult barbet (the leg-banded one) feeding its offspring. Where is its spouse? Has it met misfortune just like this male?

While observing the barbet's movement, we also saw this adult Malay Night Heron flying up to its nest to feed its two chicks.

In the afternoon, hard but infrequent rainfall forced us to cancel observations for the rest of the day.


Another bad news had happened. One of the barbet trios, i.e. the one with the pink and red leg bands was attacked today by a squirrel in the botanical garden. It bit the young bird right in the head. We tried to rescue it by scaring the squirrel away. Sadly, the fledgling died immediately. R.I.P. While the body is still fresh, we decided to make it into a specimen.

While reaching the head area, you can clearly see the injuries done to the head here. (The photo may disturb some people as it contains some blood and flesh. Please do not click it if you do not want to see it. You have been warned.)

Afterwards, this is what the incomplete specimen looks like. It was quite difficult since this is only a fledgling and the bones are quite fragile. Plus, the skull had been cracked by the squirrel's bite - causing cleaning the skull much more difficult. We will continue to work on it tomorrow.

Sigh.
.