Barbet and its nest

It is really interesting to see how these small birds coexist with each other. I was watching this pair of Coppersmith Barbet building their nest and in the process saw many other birds on the same tree.

I also observed that the Barbet had a set routine during the day. At the crack of dawn he sits on the eucalyptus tree close to our house emitting his tuk tuk sound. Once he moves on, the Mynahs parks themselves on the tree creating a lot of racket. Then comes the sunbirds flitting around pretty fast, followed by the fan tail with their peculiar tweet.  Once the sun is real bright, the pair of grey hornbills do make their presence felt.

More like a fixed time slot for each bird. The Barbet  does not get distracted by the other activities on the tree, like the parrot feeding the young one.

Or the male koel sitting on the same bark where he is chipping away the wood for the nest.

Earlier he started on the east side and went pretty deep with the hole, but abandoned it. Could be the wood was hard, or could be that the sunlight would hit the young one directly.

Have made a small video with whatever I could capture. Now the Barbet is working on the west side, away from my line of visibility.  If I can capture some action from the other side, then maybe I may come up with part 2 of this video. We can name it West Side Story.

While we were away

When we were not at home, these birds decided to make a nest in our garden. This is not the first time the Scaly Breasted Munia has nested here. 

I had seen earlier (about nine years ago) how feverishly they gather the green long blades to weave a nest which has an opening on the side. Usually the opening is facing the wind direction. By the time the eggs are laid the leaves dry up and the nest has a messy look from outside , probably acting as a camouflage. 

During the course of a week, I managed to capture a few shots of the parents and their young ones. 

Here you can see the young one having a look at the outside world 

Here you can see the three young ones, probably frolicking outside the nest when the parents are away. 

I am assuming these are the young ones as there is a prominent white moustache on all three, which is missing in the adult Munia.

The adults usually takes a halt outside and make sure the coast is clear before slipping into the nest.  Here you can see her perched on the tapioca stem 

The sound you hear in the video is the ambient sound.

Flickr and the Green Bee Eater

I observed that I was spending more time in front of my computer and less time outside. I know that this is not healthy but photography assignments (and later processing them)  keep me chained to the desktop.
So I took my camera and went out on to the terrace.  I scanned the tree tops and within 10 minutes I spotted this cute little bird sitting on a branch, about thirty meters away from me. I got some shots and a little video clipping of my new little friend.
Later while processing the picture I was surprised to see the crisp and clear picture, considering the fact that I was using a point and shoot camera with no tripod.
This goes to prove that you don't need a sophisticated camera or high end lens to capture a good picture.

I uploaded it on my Flickr site and the picture made it to the Explore section of that day.

Once a picture makes it to the Explore section the number of hits just shoots up. As of date it has 7323 views, 276 favourites and 18 comments (all within 10 days)

The Green Bee Eater is found from Gambia to Ethiopia and in Asia from India to Vietnam. They predominantly eat insects especially bees, wasps and ants which are caught in the air by making sorties from an open perch. Before swallowing the prey, a bee eater removes stings and break the exoskeleton of the prey by repeatedly thrashing it on the perch.
They sun bathe more frequently than other bee eating species and sometimes bathe in water by dipping in water in flight. Now that is something I want to see.

  

Woodpecker

It is no wonder that one can easily spot birds and their nests at the Orcas Island. With an area of 57 square miles, it has only 4894 residents staying on it. Which means minimum disturbance from the human species.

I was walking down the path from Cherry Hill along the bay when I saw this tree with a black patch on it. 

Initially I thought it was a black patch, but was wondering how it could be a perfect round. 

I stopped and was intently gazing upon it when out popped a head of a young one. 

And therein started my saga with the young ones and their mother. 

Daily morning I used to be there with my camera to get some good shots/videos of the young one. 

Within the next four days I realised that there were three of them in that cavity though I could not get all three in a shot (managed to get them in the video) 

(I don’t know if there were more than three) At times they would lean out a lot waiting for their mother 

While scanning higher up on the same tree, I found another hole, probably occupied by another clutch from the earlier mating season. It is interesting to see the different marks and patterns on the bark. 

On the first day I did not see the mother. I could spend only about an hour daily as there were other places to be explored on the island, including whale watching (will write about that later)

On the second day I did spot the mother and captured (on video) how she signaled to the young ones to keep quiet, so as not to give away their hiding place.

After seeing the mother I realised that it’s a Northern Flicker Woodpecker, found mostly in the northern parts of America. They have got barred upper parts and spotted underparts. The “Black Bib” on the upper chest is very prominent with a red malar (moustache)  

The little guy sort of got used to me hanging around and did not mind

 All pictures and videos were captured from a distance (about 20 meters) Have put together all the interesting parts of the mother and the chicks to make a short video on it. 

I have kept the ambient sound as it is, so you will mostly hear the blue north western Pacific waters lapping away at the bay. 

These birds

The point of attraction in the above picture is surely not the rose. There are three of our avian friends over there (if you look closely there are four) but then if you look at the picture below you may have trouble counting them.

These are the Scaly breasted Finch (Munia)

Every year during monsoon they flock to this balcony for the bird feed that they get. In fact this housing complex has got about 110 flats, but these birds like to visit only this balcony (probably they know where the bird feed is available in plenty) 

Its amazing how nature works. This year the rains were late but the Munias were here (at the dot on the onset of the monsoon as per the calendar)

They are extremely shy. So they don’t come directly to the balcony. Their first stop is this tree close to the balcony 

Once they know that the coast is clear, they move on to the next stop – the balcony.   

Then they take turns hoping on to the floor where the bird feed is spread.   

The slightest sound or movement from inside the house makes them scamper back to the first base. (as can be seen in the video)

I remember a pair had made a nest at my place exactly four years ago on which I had written a blog.

Incidentally this is the balcony of the house where our 93 year old friend keeps herself busy by painting and knitting.  While I was there clicking the Munia, I saw her painting a bird on a fabric. 

The video  below is the result of clicking and shooting for three consecutive days by hiding, stalking, peeping and sometimes even using camouflage.

Enjoy . . . . . (if you are watching it on YouTube, keep the setting to 720pHD for clarity)

A good place in Ooty

Hill stations are the best place to get away from the heat. But getting the right place to stay is the biggest hurdle.

Had been to the Nilgiris (Ooty) last week and found that the Grand Manor is an ideal place to stay. From outside it may not grab your attention but the perspective changes once you are inside. 

The location is very close to the Botanical Garden (about 3 minutes on foot) What I liked best about the place is its cleanliness and neatness. For some, the rooms may look small but who needs huge rooms for staying at a hill station.

The problem with Ooty is that you have to go for very high end hotels to get a decent and respectable place. Garden Manor has filled in that vacuum by offering a decent place for an affordable rate. I liked the rooms which faced the stadium. Being a sportsman I enjoyed viewing the young ones playing football, basketball and volleyball (yes all are enclosed in the same stadium)

The stairs are wide and the corridors are neat and clean.

They have provision for car park near the entrance as well as an additional open air car park. Many hotels don't provide food but here you can get breakfast and dinner (but this is purely based on advance order) 
Unlike other hotels which provide hot water from a central place, here geysers are fitted in every bathroom which ensures constant hot water as per your requirement.

The overall ambiance of the place too is good with some interesting paintings put up at strategic places.

I found this canopy over the potted plant out of place, but the staff explained that a bird decided to build its nest in the plant, and they tried to shield it from the rains. And indeed there was a bird, oblivious of all the activity around.

The owner and partner Mr Antony is pleasant to talk to and has some interesting stories to tell about the old Ooty and how things are slowly changing. I suppose that is the story everywhere.

This place is close to the famous  Modern Store. Hope to write about this store in my next blog post.

The Bulbul and Mrs Koel

This is not the first time that the Red Vented Bulbul is making a nest on our terrace, but this time I got to see one of the natural habits of these avian species.

As usual the pair came scouting for a place to build the nest and within two days they decided on the location.  The work started in full earnest. The basic frame work was made and they never fail to get some sort of a thread to tie the nest to the base. (this time it was some white plastic thread)

As the days progressed, the nest took a firm shape with both the male and the female ones taking turns in getting the material for the nest.

When one came in, the other would leave for more twigs.

The items they got were just right for a nest. Dried flowers, cotton, broken broom sticks.

Once some unwanted material came along (I think it must have been chewing gum) and the Bulbul got rid of it, preened itself nicely on the fence and only then entered the nest.

Life was happy in the neighbourhood with the Robins hoping about and the Magpie looking for worms

Meanwhile danger loomed close by in the form of a Male Koel who was observing everything from a nearby tree.

The Koel must have informed Mrs Koel, as I found her lurking around well hidden in the foliage.

My observation was that she was hanging around more than Mr Koel. I suppose his work was to go scouting around for nests so that his female counterpart could lay her egg in those nests.

The only problem was that Mrs Koel had no idea if the Bulbul had already laid her eggs as the nest looked complete now.

So when the coast was clear, she made a dash for the nest and peeped inside. Even though my camera was on I could not capture that action.  Or rather I was awestruck by what this huge bird was trying to do and totally forgot to point the camera in the right direction.  All I got in my frame was her swooping down.

I don’t know if the Bulbul pair was aware of this action that took place as I saw them later giving their final touch to shape up the nest.

The next day, while I was working at my desktop I heard a big commotion outside. I could usually place a bird by its call, but this was a cacophony of many birds. I rushed out and found that a magpie, a mynah, two robins and two bulbuls were trying to attack something. The target was out of my sight (hidden by the foliage) but I guessed who it could be.

I got my camera and tried to capture the action. Mrs Koel was the target and probably she was a common enemy for all these birds.

Mrs Koel was outnumbered and knew that.  She went into the “broken wing” act, something that birds do, either to divert attention or for sympathy.  

From here she flew onto the swing with the bulbuls in close pursuit.

The bulbuls were not ready to give up and wanted her out of their territory. They made swooping sorties on her. Mrs Koel saw an opening in between these sorties and flew away.

I read some interesting facts about the female Koel on the net. One that caught my attention was written about seven decades ago by one Mr Krishna Raju on “Intelligence of a pair of Koels”

In fact that typewritten archive has a lot of info for bird lovers (click here to see)

Coming back to our Bulbul pair, the nest is ready, but will they come back to lay their eggs?  What do you say? I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Have made a 12 minute video on the complete action (or rather all that I could capture) All bird calls heard in this video is the ambient natural sound.