Nesting of Yellow Vented Bulbul

From my home, I can hear the happy chirping sounds of the yellow vented Bulbul. Apparently, after CNY, our neighbours have added new plants like chiku plants. So we thought they are attracted by the chiku plants. Who knows, they decided to settle in one of our plants located near the rubbish chute. Now that the bird has started to nest here, we have to tip toed to throw rubbish, or rather reduce the trip to throw rubbish. 

200325 - It started one day when I spotted this pair of birds on the railing on top of my plants. Corridor of a common HDB flat.

200325- This bird is gathering materials for its nest.

200325 - Then I spotted a newly built nest on one of my plants

200325 - Here is where the nest is located next to the rubbish chute

200330 Noticed Bulbul has started to sleep her at night.

200331 My daughter was curious how is the look of the inside of the nest. To our surprise, we spotted 2 eggs in there.

200405 - Now we try not to disturb the bird too much so that the eggs can hatch. We do noticed the nest was poorly supported. The bird is too heavy for it. When it nest in it, the plant will sway downwards.

200403 morning 9.30am. Bulbul concentrating on nesting on this wet, heavy raining day.
Our lives have changed ever since we spotted this bird nesting. Everyday, my hubby and daughter will bring me news of the bird when they come home. We all shared observation of the bird and were all concern if the nest can stay there as the plant seems to be too weak to support this bird.
I have also reduced the number of trips to throw my rubbish and open and close my gate as soft as possible so that we do not disturb this bird. Oh well, we are all having baby blues.

200407 - Bulbul still nesting. Daytime, it is more alert. Whenever we open the door, it will fly away. Night time, it will burry its head in its nest. Even if I water the plant she is on, she will not bother.

200409 Now that the Bulbul is a resident here, the sunbird felt threaten. Whenever he/she rested on the pomegranate plant, the sunbird will come and chase him/her away. 

200411 After 13 days wait, finally we spotted this in the morning.
Was telling my family that the birds should be hatching soon as I see the longer period the mummy been in the nest. True enough, the babies come into the world today. Wow, we are so lucky to witness this moment. Especially during the COVID 19 circuit breaker period, this is actually make us busy for these period of time.

200415 Chicks has grown

200415 Now I can see the parents bringing food to chicks frequently.

200417 Mother bird feeding the chicks. They worked as a team. The father bird will come close to be to "bark" at me to go away. So interesting to watch their behavior. Below is the view of the bird feeding.

200418 The parents are now very protective towards the chicks.
If we are too near the nest, they will come near you and "bark" at you hoping we will leave them alone.

200418 The chicks has grown and now with feathers. 7 days and now they are bigger and taller

200420 Oh the chicks grew fast. Now they are covered with feathers. Today, they stopped stretching their neck for food every time when the wind blew or when they hear sound. They sleep a lot. The parents bulbul seems to know that their chicks are very sleepy too. Did not visit them until 5pm. Before today, they usually bring food to them from 2 pm. 

200421 - They change every day. Today, the tail appeared and continue to sleep alot.

200421 Now we can see bigger chicks wanting food from mum

200422 After 11 days (from Apr 11), the 1st chick fleg

200422 - Unlike what I read from people's birding on other birds, this bird need not have parents to guide him out of the nest. It just flew out of the nest. Apparently, it was quite lost. So we noticed the parents were above guiding him/her along. 

200422-As for the 2nd chick, we can see that the feathers were not fully form yet. So still not ready to fly. Perhaps the way the adult feed them, its always feed and go. So I wonder if this bird has not enough food for it to grow strong. As for the parent, they have their expectation too. In the video below, it shows how pushy it can be. It flew up and down to this bird for about 15 mins to push this kid to fly. However this chick is just not ready. So the parent has to leave this kid to spend the night here alone. Poor kid. 

200423 2nd chick leave its nest and somehow ended standing on this pandan plant at 2pm. Has no confidence to fly and stayed there from 2pm and we found it there still at 7.30pm sleeping. We helped to move him/her to its nest but it flew to the periwinkle plant.

200423 - 12 days after hatched and still not ready to fly. We guessed this bird has a little delay in growth. Its feathers are still not as developed as the 1st chick at 11 day.

200423 In the morning, the 2nd chick hide here and there. Almost cannot find it when it hide in my pot. 我是一隻小小小小鳥 想要飛呀飛卻飛也飛不高. This song lyrics really represent its feelings right now.

200423 - Poor kid. Today need to spend the night alone. The parent no longer check on it at night time.

200425 An eventful day today. We tried to feed the chick with banana but it flew away. In an attempt to escape us, it flew out of the floor and descend 16 floor down and landed on a tree. Both parents followed. We thought it will be good that now it fleg and the parents were with him/her.
Who knows, my hubby noticed there was a commotion with the birds at the ground floor. Upon check out, he noticed a group of mynas were bully the chick and the chick cannot fly properly. The parents also cannot fight off the mynas. No choice, in order to protect the chick, my hubby brought the bird back and placed it on its nest. It was so scared that it was trembling. It stayed in the nest, head burrowed in its nest. Only an hour later, it managed to lift its head up and look out. 2 hours later, it started to stand on its nest. We did not see the adults bulbuls coming back to look for this chick and that worries us.
The chick started to call out to its parents for about 2 hours, we can hear it from our home. Then there is this change is the sounds and I went to check it out just in case any birds attack it. To my surprised the parent found this chick and we can see the chick is overjoy. So happy for them.  Below is the video showing the parents coming back on the 2nd round.

200425 14 days after hatched. 1st chick has already fleg on 22 Apr and not sure where is it now. This chick is still not ready to fly and hoping around

200425, In the above video, you can see that it poo so much. If it does its business in its next, the mother bird will clean up. But not for the common are. As for the above picture, it is my last shot before it fleg. It sat just next to the rubbish chute. When I throw rubbish, it looked and me and I look at it. No scared of me. At about 6.30pm, it called out to the parents and later cannot find the chick. My hubby went downstairs to check out and confirmed that it is down there with the parents. It can fly better now. So we will leave the chick with its parents and let nature takes it course. We will definately miss these chicks.

From Mar 25, we spotted the bulbuls building its home to Mar 31 seeing the eggs being laid. From there we were worried that the eggs will not be hatch or the chicks not able to grow up properly. So blessed to be able to witness the whole process and supporting them to grow up in a proper environment. It took 11 days for the chicks to hatched and another 11 to 15 days for the chicks to be able to fleg. I wish them good luck going forwards. Oh, I am already missing them now.