Some time ago
I go hold of a list. It is welcoming to get hold
of such a page and
a precious guide on
popular plants that
our garden birds
visit. Thought I could from then on depend on
the information contained in that list to quote the names
of trees and make references when I write about
habits of birds. I kept it until one day I was
ready to refer to it for assistance.
Sorry, some details on the trees listed may be
pertinent but I would say more apt as a list of
flowering plants that birds may visit. This list
must have been prepared for another exercise - to decorate
a home garden to attract birds. For example,
some obvious flowering tree like Heliconias
popularly visited by birds were omitted. Then
there are also mention of palm trees with flowers or
seeds that I have seen were never patronized by birds.
I feel a
birder would need some sort of guide list where we could use in the field
and make records with. As far as I know there are
few backyard Birders, most birders I know are in
a hurry to be in the forest, seeking out more
colorful birds and tend to be less
concerned with birds in our garden. In the end,
besides Papayas and bananas they we all can
identify ourselves, the less known trees and
scrubs, never have a name attached.
So with my
experiences and observation I made in the field, I
now slowly compiling a list which I myself feels
proud. I will keep adding new plants as I
get the details. You could help me if there are
plants which you have come across and that I missed out.
At the bottom of this page. I started now with
a rudimentary list where I hope I can build on.
Coming back
to fruiting trees, the heading for this page. I touch on a
couple of tropical fruits
trees found in
our garden that
birds from the garden and open Park would visit.
But you would agree with me that there far more
frugivorous Birds in the wild. The fruits that
they select? Unusual and sometimes minute, on
trees that we can hardly get ourselves
associated with. Believe me
some fruits are so tiny, inconspicuous that I made
special efforts to have them recorded. Needless
to say,
far from our imagination of Papayas as bird
food, these other the bird food are not meant for human consumption.
To bring
myself back into the theme of fruiting trees.
This time, from the garden into the forest. I
start off showing some of the more obvious and
popular fruiting trees found in the wilderness.
With very little knowledge on Botany, I tried so
hard but still I could not get proper ID for
this plants and trees growing in the wild. After
a while, without knowing the proper names, but
on the look out by sight for the type of plants
is crucial during our outings.
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This one for
example, has large yellowish fruits, both in
montane and lowland forest. This species is
again somewhat different . Found in the lowland
forest, the fruits were smaller but with
heavy orange tinge.
Watch out for
these tree which I termed them as Barbet fruits.
Prolific and
widespread. During fruiting season, the birds
would be there. |
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The fruits
shown may appeared to be on branches and twigs
of tree with fairly thick branches.
No it was
not, this is some sort of climbers like a vine.
When it is fruiting the vines would be bereaved
of leaves.
A very much
sort after fruits popular with a long list of
birds. It is sub-montane |
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These are fruits growing at the tip of a
densely foliaged scrub. The more matured
scrub were tree like up to 15 feet tall.
The fruits though good size of 3-4 mm
round were inconspicuous, kept out of
sight by the dense large leaves.
Particularly proffered by Bulbuls.
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The fruit of
this tree was hardly seen.
Though in
cluster, the fruits were not showy and hidden
beneath the large leaves. each time we had to
peep through the leaves to verify the existance
of the fruits.
Another
popular fruits for the birds and it's structure
where the birds needed to carefully extract the
seeds retained the birds in situ for a while. |
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So often I
had seen birds feasting on the Macaranga. |
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Actually this
green fruits turn yellow when ripe, the
cover could be easily removed exposing
the seed. Early each morning, the birds
made their round and harvesting them
before we had a chance to examine them |
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I have put up
this page in support of my other pages relating
to bird life. Yes, these are the fruiting trees
growing in the wild and important to Bird Life.
The trees themselves, not interesting, most of
them easy to spot and identify. Then, these trees are unlikely to be planted
but sprouted up by themselves from seeds
scattered by birds. The fruits from the trees
are likely to be seasonal. Except for the bright
yellow fruits for the Barbet, I find that most
fruits have little or obvious markings for quick
spotting. The trees themselves, many of them
"weeds" do not attract gardeners to select
them as ornamental plants but the forest are full
of them. Once we are familiar with them,
spontaneously birders would spot them, verify
their fruiting status and mentally plan out
their expectation for the day.
Lastly, birds
come to some trees for their seeds rather than
flowers or fruits. And here the list of trees
and scrubs that I have ID.
