Our family has a new entertainment now - the new tiny birds in our garden!
Let me tell you the 'Bird Story' now!
It all started when our gardener showed us a tiny nest in between the branches of Red coloured Ixora (Vrukship poo in Tamil, and Kepalada pushpa in Kannada) plant on 18th July '09. It had 3 small eggs. It was in my head level. So I could not see them! I asked my son to take photos and he did so, nearly every day! The birds have chosen such a nice place to build their nest and camouflaged it from every angle. No human or other birds can find it easily. Let me post some of them:
Now, the first stage that we saw...three eggs inside the tiny nest:
We have visitors in our small garden, like, koyal, humming bird, woodpecker, parrot, sparrows, squirrels and some birds whose name, we do not know. We had more birds in our surroundings when we came here, to this house, 13 years back. Now, a number of flats have come up and the number and variety of birds visiting, have come down.
Now, this is a BIG surprise for us! I don't know the name of the bird. But they are cute, with a tiny red patch under their belly. We are particularly happy because they chose our garden to lay eggs. Till some months back, we had many kittens at home and our Nero and ET were experts in climbing small plants or big trees! They used to climb up and shout from up our Teak wood tree and my husband would run to rescue them with a ladder, once in the heavy rain, at night!
Even now, as soon as I open my door and step out, the birds who come to feed their babies, in turns, fly away and watch me from the wire (the photo!) on top of their nests!
The eggs must have hatched last Friday and my son took this photograph on Saturday! He whistled mildly and all the tiny mouths opened to the hilt! He clicked!!!
This is the proud mother, watching her babies! You know what, though the mouths are opened fully, no sound comes out of them!
And these are the happy parents, Amma and Appa!
I am sure, everyone will be happy to read the story of our Black birds and their tiny cuties!
I hear the parents chattering 'tuvvee tuvee' outside! Will go and have a look!
Edited to add the second part of the story of the bulbuls:
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35 comments :
Kavita, you knocked and here I am! Happy Friends Day, to you!
I am first in my comment column! Dhiren!!!
Sandhya..thankyou and same to you too....i loooooved this cute story,oh..the pics are amazing..pass my good wishes to amma and appa ,i know how busy you are going to be in coming days with new born babies around(lol)....when all the newspapers,tv channels are full of ugly stories blogger world is a blessing to bring such wonderful stories.
Oh Sandhya/.its amazing everything.and the way you captured..they are so cute and do you know its very lucky if the bird makes nest in ur house and lays eggs..so i am very happy for everything.
Sandhya, you are so lucky to be able to see these cute bird-babies grow up!
Wonderful pictures and lovely story!
Kavita: I would like to see them with feathers and take a photograph! Will I be lucky?!! The are popping their heads out and I am able to see them when I go near their nests! We watch them without touching the plant or leaves!
Renu: Thank you! We had Varamahalakshmi pooja on Friday and were busy and saw the babies the next day. All the of us get up in the morning go and see them first thing in the morning, one by one, like a ritual - don't want to disturb them! We did not tell our relatives also because if many people come and disturb them, the parents might get worried.
Manju: Thank you Manju. Eggs' and baby photos were taken by my son(height deficiency for me!) and the rest by me!
So sweet sandhya.Even garden at my mom's place we used to see the eggs hatching and the babies coming out.Lovely pictures :)
hey maami, so cute!!! I had completely forgotten about the nest you told me a few days back... The photos are really pretty. I'll definitely try to come on sat. or sunday to see them. Ashwini would love to see them, hope they will be there until she comes for ganesha pooja. I am sure it will be very nice to watch them. Enjoy and update with me about the little ones!! thanks for the lovely photos KK...
varnavi: these things are always new for us.
sharu; I might charge a hefty sum for watching the babies and with lots of conditions!
Yes, we are enjoying them immensely!
hey..how did u manage to click the snaps yaar? gr88888..good post..cheers..
So cute. That's Red-vented Bulbul.
I love it when birds are in the garden and lay eggs. Birds chirping is the best sound to hear in the morning.
Your snaps are beautiful and those tiny baby bulbuls. Such cuties.
I was planning a bird bath + feeder in our lawn but our gardener said that birds/eggs invite garden snakes. Since we live in the country, I am not too sure. Garden snakes are non-poisonous but I am scared and don't want that. So finally we have a hanging bird feeder. :( :(
Though I would have loved the huge one on the ground for Peanut.
Ramesh: Clicking was no problem. We just had to be careful not to disturb them and the mother bird should not think us as danger to her babies.
Solilo: Thanks a lot, Solilo. No one in our family knew the name of the bird. We get lots of humming birds, but I had seen just a couple of these birds in our surroundings.
I too like to hear the chirping of birds in the mornings. Sometimes I just lie down and try to listen and recognise the sounds.
When we built this house in the outskirts of Chennai, the area was calm and peaceful. Now, our road is the main road for many housing colonies. So too much sound and dust pollution. Inspite of these drawbacks, the birds selected our garden, which is near the compound wall (roadside) to build their nest. My husband is literally praying that the babies should develop feathers and fly away without any harm from our house! He likes to check if the mother bird brings food to the babies! He shoos off anyone chatting loudly near our compound! He just opens the gate and glares at them! Everything is fun for us, now - watching the birds and him! Though we have seen many birds in our hometown, it is a rare incident in the city.
Yes, I know, the snakes are fond of bird eggs. I have seen the bird feeder in the TV!
Please show this to Peanut and feed back her comments! Incredible comments!
Sandhya, Actually I showed the pictures to Peanut yesterday but forgot to post her comments at that time.
As soon as she saw baby birds she said 'Awwwwwwwwww' and then started asking me on what they eat, how they are fed, if they use spoon and her ever curious mind goes on and on. :)))
Thank you for all the pictures.
Lovely, lovely pictures, great story!
I think the bird is called Bulbul... not sure though.
You are lucky to have this story happpening right there in your own garden!!
those were lovely pictures,Sandhya! It was so amazing to see the mama-papa birds keeping a watch from the tree top on their li'l ones.
Thank you so much for sharing. I'm going to show them to Namnam and I'm sure she will love it.
I am no bird expert but these birds look like 'bulbuls' to me.
They have a very sweet voice and chirp a lot.
You are extremely lucky to have a garden. I live in a concrete jungle and the only birds I get to see are pigeons.
IHM: Yes, we are all very happy that the birds have chosen our very tiny garden to start their family! Solilo says, they are red-vented Bulbuls.
Deeps: Yes, they are beautiful birds. Namnam's verdict:!!
aparna: I see them together often. I thought only the mother bird will take care. No. Both of them carry food in their beaks and feed their babies, one after another. Nice to watch.
hey friend..thanks a tonne..
Solilo: Thank you. I just wanted to know how her mind works on this topic. Esp. Peanut's mind! Peanut and Poohi's jokes are doing the rounds here, in our family! Should ask for Poohi's comments also - it will be fun. Namnam and Hriday are also there...
Today, the babies have slight fur on their heads. The heads are visible outside the nest - to me! Both the parents bring food in their beaks (we have seen all these things in TV and in our hometown...still this is special for us!), one feeds the babies first, the other waits on the wire and next this one goes off and the other one comes down to feed.
its really cute... :)))0
the photos are cool...
now I am thinking why I don't have garden in my home :(((((
Such a cute post! The Appa and Amma are such handsome birds!
kanagu: Thank you! We have got a tiny garden in front of our house and we are lucky that the birds have chosen our garden to bring up their family.
shail: It was not easy to photograph them together. Suddenly I saw them and got a good angle!
That was so lovely! Poohi was all excited to see the baby birds do 'Aaaa' - coz they are hungry- her explanation :)
You know this transported me back to my childhood. We had a pair of bulbuls in our garden and they used to build a next every year - and it always used to be three eggs :) And they used to chuck one baby out every time and we used to feel bad and put it back in the next - only to find that they would chuck it out again :( This totally brought back the memories of those days.. My brother and I would 'feed' the birds milk with an ink dropper - I think we did more harm than good, though :(
You know, you should probably take a video so that you can show your grandchildren in the future :)
If they like your garden they will come every year :) They used to come every year to our garden - and then we moved houses and never got to see it again - thanks so much for posting this and bringing back all those memories for me :)
Smitha: Yes, they laid 3 eggs and I saw 3 birds till today morning. I see only two now!
Nice comment from Poohi!
Hope they come back next year!
Will do one more post tomorrow on them with more photographs!
Only two now? Did they push out one of them too ? I feel really sad when they do that :(
One bird which was in the lawn, is not to be found. The parents fed that bird too in the morning. Don't see it now. Out of mood now, Smitha. Thought of posting about them today. Postponed.
Oh dear! That is so sad! Hugs! I think it is just the way nature functions.. The same happened at home too :(
Survival of the healthiest, Smitha? The parents took care of them so well. But they seem to be busy with their two babies, now. My husband does not know, yet. He was praying everyday, literally, that the babies should fly away, without any harm, from our house.
Hi.. thanks for visiting my blog :) You have a very nice blog here.. The birds are sooo cute.. Lucky you! with so many birds visiting your garden.. I never had a garden at home :(
evanescentthoughts (huh, did I spell rightly?!): Thank you. This is the first house with a small garden in the city, for us too!
My God, what you wrote was what we exactly experienced in our garden! Good account.. feeling bad about the 3 birdies that flew away today.
Subbu: Welcome here, Subbu!
Did you watch the growing up of the birds? It must have been a very nice experience!
The first time they had 3 birds, then one, then 3. That was the last time, they were here in our garden.
When I first commented here I did not know the name of these birds. They are Red-whiskered Bulbuls!
Loved reading it again, Sandhya :)
Very nice story abt the newborn cuties in ur garden. Very well photographed, stage by stage , with interesting story. .I really appreciate ur patience and interest which are enormous in u. The blackbirds r really lucky to have ur garden as their home. They would not have received so much importance if they had chosen some other's garden..they r looking very cute. Hats off to u and ur son for the efforts. Congrats to the proud 'tuvvee! tuvvee! Parent blackbirds.
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