A foraging flock of sparrows

A small group of 'ciak'  resting on the Pong-Pong tree branch

  A few months ago, I could only notice a pair or two of the Eurasian Tree Sparrow visiting the park.  But recently I come to the realisation that they are now making a daily presence in large numbers.  This bode well for the park.  'Pipit' is a Malay word that is applied to a large number of birds species like the Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) called locally as Pipit Kuning, Richard's Pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae) called locally as Pipit Tanah. Then they are the Pipit Uban, pipit rawa, Pipit Perang and Pipit Pinang.  The Eurasian Tree Sparrow is very much alike the pipits but locally are referred to as 'Ciak'. Thus the Euarian Tree Sparrow is called in Malay as ' Ciak Urasia'. 

 The Tree Sparrow is typically a town or urban bird that  have greatly adapted themselves to human habitation because they obtain food easily from the places men congregate like coffee shops, libraries, parks and residential houses and flats. They are social birds that fly in big numbers.  They tend to be easily domesticated and tame birds.   Today I saw a flock of about 20-30 birds.  They rested on nearby trees and oil palm fronds before darting towards ground to scavenge insects, ants and grass seeds on ground zero.

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Ciaks foraging on open ground for all types of insects, ants and grass seeds.
Location : Zone C