Black Thighed Falconet

Stuart and I tried foam fighting yesterday morning. I was not expecting to be quite as sore afterwards (it is as though lots of people were hitting me very hard with foam covered sticks). Incidentally, I'm not very good at foam fighting so it was mostly being beaten with sticks.

art

sanding boxes (still sanding boxes)

Animal

photo by Redzlan

Redzlan also has a very nice Malaysian bird watching blog that I have been reading here

One of the world's smallest birds of prey is the black thighed falconet (Mircrohierax fringillarius) it is only about 6 inches long and lives in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. They tend to be found in forest from low elevations to up to 1500m. The Mircrohierax falconets have been found to be most related to the African pygmy falcon and very distinct from other falconet genuses. They eat mostly large insects like dragonflies and mantids. On occasion they will also take small birds such as munias and sunbirds which are only slightly smaller then the falconets. It has been observed that they will occasionally hunt cooperatively to capture large insects. They tend to nest in tree hollows in a cooperative pair. Chicks can sometimes be seen in the hollows yawning for long periods of time in an effort strengthen their jaw muscles.