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Mr. Chen and the Barbets
Jo Ann MacKenzie
Taiwan International Birding
Association
Mr. Chen, May 2007
 Mr. Chen Ruei-liang is Executive Director of the Hepin
Community Society,
Chichi,
Nantou County, Taiwan. He owns a farm, at elevation 200m, growing
crops of mulberry, sunflower, banana, and peanut. Many birds nest
on or near the farm. Mr. Chen noticed and began to take an interest
in them, particularly the endemic “Five-colour Bird,” the
Black-browed Barbet (Muller’s Barbet), Megalaima oorti
nuchalis.
He liked the barbets very much and saw that they needed trees of a
certain size, with the wood partially rotted and softened, in which
to excavate a chamber (with their beaks) for nesting and rearing
their young. Unfortunately, rotting trees and branches were
vulnerable to breakage and blow-down during storms, leaving barbets
with a shortage of suitable nest sites.
Initial Concept
Mr. Chen had an idea for a way he might help the
barbets. In February, 2003, he searched the area and found a log of
the India-charcoal tree, Trema orientalis, that had
been partially submerged in water for a long time, had become rotten
and soft. The log was an appropriate thickness for barbet nesting,
so he took it back to his farm. He fastened the “nest” log to a
betel nut palm, Areca catechu, and kept an eye on it for a
few days. Soon a barbet found the log, dug an entrance hole and
nest chamber with its beak, and the female laid 2 eggs. In time,
the eggs hatched, and the experiment seemed a success.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. In June of that year, a typhoon
blew the tree down, killing the two chicks. The nest had failed
after all.
The Outcome
The next year, 2004, Mr. Chen put up another
log. Barbets adopted the log, nested and reared their chicks
successfully.
In 2005, success again.
In 2006, another seemed destined for success, but
for unknown reasons, the log was abandoned after entrance holes had
been begun. Mr. Chen tried another experiment; he took the trunk of
a tree that had been cut down for road widening in Chichi and
erected it on his farm, then fastened a trema log to it.
Barbets accepted the log on the re-located tree trunk and nested
successfully.
Now, Mr. Chen had a good understanding of what
would work; wood of the trema tree was best. He also
observed that natural nest sites were so scarce that a “nest” log
put up in the morning was often claimed by a barbet in the
afternoon.
In early 2007, he erected 40 “nest” logs
on his farm and surrounding community.
 One of these had an unfortunate outcome. The barbet
first began to excavate the lower part of the log, but found it too
soft. The bird then tried the upper part, but it was too hard.
Determined, the bird pounded the wood until its bill broke. Still
it tried, then had to give up, defeated. Another log, erected high
on an exposed post, was adopted by another barbet and the nesting
was successful.
“Nest” logs were also erected around
Chichi town, in public places and on private property. One of these
is on the property of the Chichi Resort Hotel. The hotel’s owner, Mr. Lin Yue-feng is very proud and protective
of “his” barbet. He has a closed-circuit television camera placed
on another tree, focused on the nest log, with a live view presented
to guests in the hotel’s dining room.
Conclusion
Mr. Chen wants to be sure of a steady supply of
“nest” logs, so searches around fresh water sources for logs that
have been naturally buried in the mud and silt. Sometimes, if he
finds a good log elsewhere, he takes it home and buries it, waiting
for it to rot. Depending on the conditions, it takes 3 to 8 years
for a log to rot to suitable softness.
Mr. Chen intends to continue to help the
Black-browed Barbets for a long time to come.
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