Spotted Owlet

This is a young one of a spotted owlet and he is busy having a good look at the world outside.

The parents are sitting on the opposite branch and one of them keeps a constant watch on the little one.

When one is awake, the other one is asleep (almost)

Spotted this family in Wanowrie and the hole in the big tree was a perfect natural nest for them

If you wait long enough you can see how the young one keeps changing its position in the nest

While its common name is self-explanatory, it is interesting to note that the scientific name of this small owl, Athene brama, has been derived from two divine, mythological figures: a Greek goddess and a Hindu god. In Greek mythology, Athene (or Athena) is known as the goddess of wisdom, war, and liberal arts; and the goddess holds a special bond with the bird. Brahma is a supreme Hindu god, who holds the honorary position of being the Creator.
Although listed as ‘Least Concern’ (LC) in the IUCN Red List, it is important to understand how rapid tree-felling significantly impacts this species.  Loss of trees means the loss of tree cavities for owlets.
Owls cannot move their eyes, therefore, they have to move their entire head to look around and can turn their head 180 degrees. This is possible because owls have an extra vertebra in their spine. 
I am glad we have such huge trees and hope  we humans have the good sense of not cutting down these huge trees as many birds and micro organisms depend on them and help in sustaining life on this earth. Have captured a part of their moment and compiled it into a video.
Last month I was lucky to spot the nest of a pair of the Woolly necked stork.

This was a first time for me as I had never seen them before. My camera was running when the second bird landed in the nest. 

Inspite of their size, this Is one of the least studied species of the birds in the world.

Unlike human beings, their eyelids move from front to back and they do a lot of blinking.

Here too I got some good footage and made it into a video It was nice to see them flying gracefully.

The eggs have hatched

Hi this is me one of the three kids of Choti chidiya, and that is my picture you see there below.

Aha this is life, just get up in the morning and go on eating till it is sunset. In fact we are fed 3 to 4 times in an hour (that works out to be every 15 to 20 minutes) One of  the reasons why Papa too chips in to feed us. 

For you humans, home is a warm and safe environment. For us birds, the nest can be a dangerous place. Predators can attack the whole brood leaving an unsuccessful nesting season. That could be the reason why mama is in a hurry to see us grow up fast and fly off.

There you can see us being fed. After putting the morsel in our mouth (turn by turn) she picks up our droppings and flies off to deposit them out side the nest. (that way the nest is always clean)

But this place is pretty cool. The humans around here are pretty friendly. Curious yes but they mean no harm. We are three siblings. Actually we were a bit doubtful about the third one. We both came out almost at the same time but the third one was still in her egg and mama hen (the one whom you call choti chidiya) did not give up and there she hatched the next day.

In fact Mr H (Haddock) does have a photograph of us when the third one was still in the shell. But I don’t want you to have a look at that photograph as we don’t look very pretty in it. In fact I should say we look ugly, no feathers, tiny wings, eyes closed (huge eye balls, compared to the body size) yuck !! Those huge eye balls means one thing, that the size of our eyes are fully formed when we are born.

Here comes mama with more insects.

We prefer insects, but some times she gets petals or small flower buds. I have seen mama drinking nectar from the flowers. I am waiting to do the same. Sometimes she gets these yellow pieces of crumbs, can’t figure out what it is, but she knows best what is good and nourishing for us. 

 Did you see that look? That is intimidation. (not the picture above but the ones below)

One does not have to be a Dr Salim Ali to learn our body language.  Like when we want to intimidate, we look straight, both eyes and beak pointed at the bird or person. This was a look that was directed at Mr H to say “scram, move back or I attack” 

If that does not scare you how about this ?

Hey what is that sound? I can see that Mama is also alert. She says its not a familiar sound. Yes it is a bird call, but not one heard in these surroundings. I can see that Mr H is also out with his camera. He says it looks like a Hornbill and is surprised to see a Hornbill in this area. Looks like he got some shots of the bird.

Another dawn, another day. Its raining today. But its nice to see the humans go about with their daily routine. There comes Mr H with his camera. Mama & Papa are getting more protective. They are trying to shoo him away. Hey look at that. This is something worth watching.

Mama is going for the ground attack while Papa is giving  the aerial support from the clothesline. (we birds seldom sit on the floor so I am surprised that Mama is sitting on that hard tile) 

Any way Mr H has backed away.

He did take some night shots of us from far. This is how mama sits with us when it is not feeding time.

I wonder if I could make an entry in the Guiness Book of records about our mama and papa as the most photographed Bulbul couple in the world.

Mr H tried a lot to get both of them in the same frame (a difficult task) Aha  finally a good one

 (frolicking around the papaya tree?)

Hey why is mama looking down? Is it time for us to fly? Is she gauging the depth (in case we have a fall) 

For those who missed the earlier part where we were yet to be hatched, it is in the post called Choti Chidiya as narrated by mama.

I wonder if Mr H will be able to capture us in the process of flying off. If he does then there will be a further sequel to this (and may be in that sequel you will get to see our yuck pictures)

That is mama trying to figure out who is behind the camera.

The missing beak

If you see that halo above me its because I was the only one who went to church on new year’s day while others were sleeping off. Not that I am that holy holy type and I do give the Sunday services a skip at times.
When you are out of the church after the Christmas / New year service there are these little guys selling all sorts of assorted balloons
This small boy was frantically trying to keep up with the demands of the customers.
I found that most of them were rejecting this pair of birds as “one beak is missing”
I offered to pick it up and he was very apologetic and said “kum diya to chalega “ (Its OK if you pay me less)
You should have seen his smile when I offered him his full 10 rupees.


Back home, I was having my morning tea when his smile floated back, and I thought why not a photograph of the bird with the missing beak and my morning cuppa tea. After all its nice to see someone with a genuine smile early in the morning on the first day of 2010.