The Bulbul Nest

The fledglings stayed in and around our garden for one full day, being fed by parent birds and sometimes resting in the trees. Their begging calls were heard just before dark, so they must have slept there overnight. But the Bulbul family was gone on the next day, the 14th. I could hear no vocalization in the vicinity. Hope they'll come back to nest in our place. It was fun watching their nesting and I learned a lot from it.

The Bulbul Nest

This is another fledgling. His tail is also still short unlike the long taile of their parents. One of the parents fed them with cicadas, which, I believe, were singing in our neighbors garden. And I don't hear cicadas from there any more after that. Such is the way of nature.

The Bulbul Nest

Then it happened the next day. But too bad I missed the very moment! When I peeked out to check the nest at 5:00 am, they were in the nest sound asleep. When my husband checked it at 8:20 am, they were still there. But at 10:20 when I came home, the nest was empty! All three fledglings were fine and able to fly perfectly, even with the short stumped tail!

The Bulbul Nest

This photo was taken in the afternoon on the 12th. There seemed to be only three nestlings. Two of them probably didn't make it, partly due to the heavy rain that fell for 2 consecutive days. The started to stand up on the rim of the nest to stretch. They should fledge very soon.

The Bulbul Nest...Parents are busy.

Despite the heavy rain, the parents visit their nest about once every 10 minutes to feed their hungry children. Mom and Dad are both wet all over. " Hang on! Your efforts will pay off in a few days."

The Bulbul Nest in Rain still..

It is still raining hard. The nestlings have grown pretty much overnight, haven't they? At least their feathers have grown and opened to cover their bodies. It seems they aren't as wet as yesterday thanks to the plumage cover. They might fledge tomorrow or the day after. Now they are giving off short shriek-like begging calls.

The Bulbul Nest

Because of a typhoon passing across Japan, it's been raining hard since early morning and pretty windy at times. The bulbul nestlings, tightly packed in the tiny nest, are all soaked. The parent birds are also quite wet. It is harder for the parents to find food on rainy days. I hope the storm will pass in a short while.

The Bulbul Nest, Aug 10, 2010

This was taken just a few hours ago. They must be really hot with all five of them packed snugly in the small nest!

The Bulbul Nest, Tues Aug. 10, 2010

By the way, the spot indicated by the yellow arrow is where the nest is. right outside our kitchen window.

The Bulbul nest, Aug 9, 2010

There seem to be five nestlings in this roughly^built and tilted nest! They are asleep most of the time. But their eye lids are developing via the phenomenon called necrosis, in which part of the cells or tissues die or slothed away. At the same time the feathers lining the eyes, which are equivalent to our eyelashes, are forming.

My biggest concern is whether the frail nest would last till they fledge.....

The Bulbul Nest. Aug 8, 2010

The nestlings are doing great today. They've grown much over just one day. Now eye slits are forming. The eyelids should appear in a day or two. They sleep well, eat well and that's about all they do now. Interestingly, the nestlings hardly give begging calls. They are extremely quiet, although they shake their heads vigorously when a parent bird alights. This is probably an adaptation not to attract predators.

Just outside our window (2)

I knew the chicks hatched a few days ago, but waited until yesterday to remove the screen. There seem to be at least three nestlings, which are still naked and with their eyes closed.

Just outside the window (1)

Around mid July, I noticed a pair of Japanese Bulbuls started to build a nest in a tree just outside of our kitchen window. Overjoyed, I set up all the video equipment by the window. Then, I found out there was a BIG problem lying ahead of me. The screen window was stuck firmly to the window sill. It seemed impossible to get it out of the way without disturbing the nesting pair considerably.

We decided to wait until chicks hatched. By then, the pair should become tanacious enough and would not abandon their nest.

So, we waited.