Natural selection...

Bad news comes in pairs.. 

I went to the backyard to check on the Yellow Vented Bul Bul chicks.
One of them was missing.
The last time I saw them both was this morning.
In a short span of time, the hatchlings were growing at a rapid rate.
It took merely days for feathers to grow on their body..

The chicks calling out for its parents..

This was the last shot of them together

I have been warned.. 

When I posted the photos of the chicks and its parents feeding it on Facebook, some friends had warned about natural predators like crows and such.
In the real world term, its natural selection.
That's why animals give birth and lay as many eggs as possible so that their hatchlings could survive.
As humans, we mourn the loss of our child and it could be hard to swallow.
For the bird, I guess its tough luck, better chance the next cycle.
I really doubt it that I would witness another nesting in our backyard, nevertheless, capturing the pictures of the egg till it hatched and eventually the chicks growing up to this point, was a real excitement.

Last of the Bul Bul chick.. 

The odds are stacking..

It's kinda funny that the adult Bul Buls were not guarding its young.
There all sorts of predatory creatures in our neighbourhood from the Brahminy kite to crows and other slithery critters.
I suspect that the crow or myna might have some part in the abduction and killing of the young chick.
Way I see it, the surviving hatchling has a 40% chance of survival in the next few days if nothing gets to it.
I really hope to see this young Bul Bul grow and fly away from its nest..