I went to my backyard to check on a family of cats.
Apparently, the dogs had sniffed out some kittens on the pandan leaves.
To my surprise, I found a bird's nest on the Bougainvilla tree which was planted by Michelle, my wife.
Upon closer inspection, I found two eggs inside it.
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| The bird's eggs... |
In the distance, there was a Yellow Vented Bul Bul.
I guessed that it was the mother that flew off after I opened the backdoor..
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| The female Bul Bul incubating her eggs |
I've never captured a female bird nursing her chicks before.
And this was a great opportunity to do so.
The nest was almost at eye-level and since it was just a few feet behind my toilet on the ground floor, I thought it would be good to set up a hide and observe the Bul Bul.
I made some reference with a book by D&K on birds.
Seems that it takes about 10 days for the eggs to hatch. And another 15 days for the chicks to grow its feathers..
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| The day finally came: Our Bul Bul's chicks |
So, there I was, preparing to go to work on Tuesday after a long break.
I noticed that the pair of Bul Buls were not around.
And when I checked their nest, two chicks had just hatched.
Probably a few hours earlier.
I was very excited to see the featherless chicks that were huddled together.
Then, in the days to come, I set up a hide in my toiled and peeked out to get a good view of the chicks in their nest.
Each time they felt the bougainvilla tree vibrate, one of the feistier chicks would extend its neck out.
Then, the mother came with food.
This was repeated every 10 or 15 minutes.
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| The mother feeding its young |
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| A new beginning: the proud momma and her chick |
It seems that the young Bul Buls are eating non-stop.
They have a voracious appetite with the parents working around the clock in search of food
I don't think this is an issue as the neighbourhood has an abundant supply of insects and larvaes.
It would be very interesting to observe the Bul Bul chicks in the days to come..
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