Black Kite and the chicks Part 2

Starting off with a comment I got from Mr K Parthasarathi in Part One of the Black Kite. Nature abounds with beauty, if only we observe keenly to the minute details. One need not go to forests or sanctuaries for watching the birds as they reside around our houses also. It just calls for an abiding interest. Looking for the second video soon. I know this second part got delayed. The main reason was that I was busy with some other assignments. So here goes: The young ones were growing up pretty fast and the parents were getting more and more protective about them.

I could have got better shots of the nest from the terrace, but stopped venturing there as the parents were getting the wrong idea that I was a threat to the young ones.

The male and the female made regular sorties to feed the young ones.

While observing the kite I couldn't help notice some of the other birds that visited the tree. Like this Indian Golden Oriole.

The bee eater turns up early morning and they are my favourite

This female Koel was looking menacing

The coppersmith was always up there on the wire reciting her tuk tuk at regular intervals.

I have seen the common mynah but this one looked different and after looking it up in the Bird book, I realized that this is the Brahminy Mynah.

These fan tail birds keep flitting from branch to branch and are very fast, making it difficult to click them. What I like about them is their sweet long bird call (20:57)

The sunbird as usual was good with her acrobatic tricks.

I was lucky enough to spot a sparrow. Yes, the common sparrow is not so common nowadays.

The crow kept looking at me as if to say "why don't you click me?"

When you have time just observe the crows and see how smart they are. (R K Laxman's favorite past time was to sketch the crows) The parrot was not far from the nest and observed the activity

He finally decided to savour the seeds from the pods of the same tree

While filming all this, the sound of the birds chirping filled up my sound track. Reminded me of what I read somewhere....... if you want to hear the sound of the bird, don't buy a cage, plant a tree. Meanwhile the feeding went on and you can see that one of them is waiting for his turn to be fed

There was some unseasonal rains and that caught the parents off guard. I mean the nesting season is well before the monsoon so that the young ones fly off before the monsoon. But this storm was really lashing out threatening to dislodge the nest. The mother bird tried her best to protect the young ones under her wings. After the storm was over this is what I captured. (12:00)

The next day was bright and sunny. While observing the young ones I was wondering about some of the traits that the young ones pick up. Like house keeping. When the chicks want to relieve themselves, they will slowly walk backwards to the end of the nest, aim and shoot out of the nest, thereby keeping the nest clean. I don't think they were potty trained by the parents, so I presume it is an inherited behaviour. (9:46 and 17:22)

The young ones liked to explore the surroundings when the parents were not around.

Meanwhile there was romance brewing on the adjacent tree between two Coucals (Bharadwaj) The nest on that tree is an old crow’s nest.

Coming back to the Black Kite, I found that they were more anxious about the young ones

I even found one of them dozing off during the day time. (26:10)

There was a squirrel who liked the thrill of jumping from one tree to the next one.

As the days progressed I found that only one chick was active or rather only one head was popping up.

After waiting for one more day I took a risk and went and peeped from the terrace. My fears were confirmed as I found the chick lying listless in the nest. It was probably dead. The mother kite did not give up hope and kept nudging and goading the listless one. By evening she must have realised what has happened and she picked up the carcass from the nest and threw it in a thicket not far away from the tree. The action was partially caught by my camera (36:52) Notice how we call them a chick or “young one” but the moment they are dead we refer to them as carcass. The part where I mentioned earlier that the chick was caught dozing off, maybe he was not well and couldn’t hold his head straight. The sad part was that the next day the same thing happened with the second chick. I was wondering, what must have gone wrong that both the chicks died within twenty four hours of each other. Was it food poisoning? Or was it due to the unseasonal rains which made them fall sick. I was hoping to capture the whole life cycle and present it as a cheerful event to the already gloomy world, but it was not to be. Life does not go as planned. This was one of the reasons I was putting off writing the second part. I am leaving these last two pics here without any comments.

The video was shot a little at a time on a daily basis and put together without much editing. So it may be a little lengthy, more like a documentary of the nest.

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)