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.
