ML586639721

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

A nest was constructed by the bulbul in a small and safe place over broken false ceiling in the lobby of a building. Unfortunately, the repair work commenced. On my request, the labourers kindly relocated the nest at another location, on a ledge high above letterboxes. We monitored for long but to our dismay, none of the parent birds visited the relocated nest. We could see them visiting the old site and perching nearby in confused state. A local rescue team, ResQ, was informed about the situation and they advised to monitor for rest of the day in the hope that the parent birds might find it till night. We observed that there was no activity or presence of parent in late evening as well as today morning. ResQ was informed and they informed that a team would be sent over. They also suggested to try using playback to lure the parent birds to the location. Accordingly, playback was used from Merlin and the parent birds responded. However, since the chicks went silent, there was a communication gap. After 2 to 3 attempts of luring, the chicks luckily sprang up begging for food and making calls when the parent birds were nearby. The calls were too feeble to record or hear clearly but it alerted one of the parent bird. This recording is of the same parent when it started chirping coninuously and started frantically searching for the nest. After about half a minute, the parent bird was able to find the nest. It hovered for 2-3 seconds and went back to its mate and they both disappeared. After a minute or so, one of the parent came over, perched near the nest and surveyed the area. It removed what appeared to be a fecal sac and flew away with it holding in its beak. Another or same parent returned to the nest with what appeared to be some food. Looks like there is a happy reunion and we breathe a big sigh of relief. Next step, monitoring as suggested by ResQ.

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P900

ISO

1600

Focal length

178 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/30 sec

Dimensions

4608 pixels x 3456 pixels

Original file size

4.49 MB