3 Hoopoe Chicks Have Finally Left Their Nest, Ending a 40-Day Observation in Taiping

By Edleena Sephia  •  19 May 2021 in News

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Three Hoopoe chicks finally left their nest on Pokok Jemerlang (Yellow Flame) at Taiping Lake Gardens separately, ending the birdwatching vigil on the 4oth day on May 17.

According to Bernama, Taiping Municipal Council (MPT) president Khairul Amir Mohamad Zubir said the first bird left at 8.06am on May 14, the second at 10.30am on May 15 and the third at 11.20pm on Monday.

If you’re not sure what Hoopoes are, they are a breed of birds that are categorised as migratory birds. They migrate to different places with better temperature that can be found across Africa, Asia and Europe, and they look like this…

Khairul Amir said that a pair of male and female birds were found making their nests on Pokok Jemerlang on April 5 to lay the eggs.

Upon receiving the information that the eggs were finally laid, Khairul Amir revealed that the council decided to carry out a 24-hour monitoring programme involving the Taiping Zoo Department, Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) and Nature Educational Society (NEST).

Around 30 personnel were at the site to observe the pair of Hoopoes after MCO was announced, before that the breeding site would receive at least 100 visitors daily.

During the observation, the pair of Hoopoes would take turns to fly in search of food for their chicks as bright and early as 7am and continue to do so until 6pm.

Among the food the chicks would consumed were fish fry, spiders, larvae, caterpillars, locusts, cockroaches, centipedes and beetles.

Since the birds are known to migrate a lot due to unsuitable temperatures, it was a big deal that they successfully bred in Taiping’s climate.

The species is also a rare addition to Malaysia’s wildlife and now thanks to the little Afro-Eurasia bird, Khairul Amir said that the successfully breeding would help to better the ecotourism scene in Taiping.