A photographers diary: A short note on Red-Whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)

One of the parents. The other sex.

One of the parents

In my last blog about the Indian Silver Bill I had just mentioned about these lovely bulbul birds. They are around for about 8 months now, hovering around in the backyard garden and near the balcony. This week the young ones of fourth family of these birds left the nest. All the four families have given me a great opportunity of watching them, making notes of their activities and observing their behavior. It was quite an amazing sight. In this blog I put down my observation made so far. These are my discrete notes made when ever I could get time to observe them. I wish I had more time to spend with them :)

A fully grown Red-Whiskered Bulbul may measure about 20 to 25cm. This one is easy to identify with its tall pointed black crest, the prominent red patch on it's cheek just below the eyes, from which it gets its name; Red-Whiskered Bulbul. Short pointed beak, black round eyes, white throat and under parts. It has a brownish spur from the shoulder level onto the breasts. Light brownish back, long tail, black and white under wings and a red vent. The flights of these birds are short and they dip and rise with flapping wings. These birds are very audible; you can easily hear their calls early morning. They have few patterns of call. They usually perch on the tree tops.

These birds feed on small fruits, small wild berries, twigs, flowers, insects and bugs. I have noticed them feeding on the sapota fruit (commonly known as the 'chikku') and catching flies and caterpillars. Both the sex are identical, but seeing their behavior, the male seems to be bigger than the female, I am still not able to differentiate them properly though. They seem to be very comfortable around the human habitat. They were very comfortable in allowing me to sit just about a feet distance from them and they still seemed to be not caring about my presence.

One of the parent spotted on the chikku tree.

The Beginning....

These birds mate outside their nests. Both male and female gather small fibers, twigs, strands of grass and soft dried leaves for the inner nest. The nests are built about 9 to 10 feet above the ground level and it is cup shaped. All the families which I have noticed have built the nest in our grill-glass enclosed balcony, between the grills and the glass. One of the families reused the nest of the older bird. I observed that they do the nest inspection before occupying the previous nest. Only one family reused the built nest and the other 3 built their own. Not sure if all the 4 families were the same birds. The birds seem to be learning about the environment and from other birds, since all the birds have built the nest at the same place. The nest are probably built only after the parents are sure about the embryo development or during the mating process, since the birds lay eggs within just 3 to 4 days after the nest building is complete. The nest building takes about a week and once the nest is complete the female stays at the nest to lay the eggs. The first family I noticed was in December-2013 and the last family was in September-2014, this indicates that these birds lay eggs throughout the year.

Eggs and nesting....

They usually lay one or two eggs, which are dotted pale pink in color. Both the parents take part in incubating the eggs. While one parent is incubating the other one sits near the nest like a watchman. One of the parents will be at the nest incubating just after the sunset and till early mornings. In the day time the birds occasionally sit on the egg to incubate but they are always around safe guarding the nest. At night they seem to cover the entire nest by putting their heads inside the nest, spreading out their wings, puffed up and making a nice woolly blanket over the nest. The eggs hatch in 12 to 15 days. The chicks are born naked with closed eyes and so the parents still continue to incubate them till the features are grown. The new born are voracious eaters, so both the parents are engaged in gathering food for the just born. The celebration of the parents after the young ones birth is quite a sight :)

Raising the Young Ones....

About a week, the young ones get their features and they would chirp! The young ones are constantly fed through out the day. The parents are very protective and they defend the intruders. They tend to beat the intruders with their flapping wings; I experienced this with the second family. They tend to scare the intruders by making themselves look big, puffed up, crest back and the heads forward as if they will poke you with their beaks. 7 to 10 days the young ones would have feathers and wings.

The grumpy little guy in defending mode.

The First Flight...

The parents teach the young ones to fly near the nest. This is the high time for the kids. They probably get just 2 to 3 days to learn to fly. The kids were hopping, jumping and trying to flap their wings on the floor. And some day they are suppose to leave their nests and fly independently. The first 3 families had given me a rough idea on duration of each phase. This time I was very sure when they will actually fly out of their nest. My guess was correct and I was able to spot them on the tree with their parents. And the parents were still busy feeding the young one. This time it was just one egg which hatched out of the two eggs. I can still spot the young one flying around the garden and learning the perfect fly! I was very fortunate to see some amazing moments this time. Here are some glimpses…..

The little guy. On the same day he ventured out of the nest.

Looking out for his parents.

Feeding time

And the second round!

And now the birds flew away, I will have to wait for the next one to come! It was total happiness observing these little winged creatures. Many a times I just forgot to click some photographs and kept starring at them!

My photographs may not do justice to these beautiful creatures and amazing moments. These photographs are just a small attempt to portray their life.

All the above mentioned points are out of my own observations. I have refereed few sites for some information. The birds, the nests and the young ones were not harmed in anyway in the process of observing and photographing them.

I have also tried to record their calls. These birds have few patterns of calls, I have just recorded two patterns here. The one is just the usual call you get to hear around. The second one is 'Search Call' for the young ones or for the other partner.

Here is the link for the calls : http://arunsphotographyjournal.blogspot.in/2014/08/the-natures-sound-strips.html