Tailorbird nest and egg :(

Our Indian Almond tree is estimated to be as old as or even older than our century old - 101 to be precise - house.  Four years ago I got its top half chopped as it had grown very tall and had spread too many branches.  Also it shed a truckload of huge leaves twice a year [March/September], which I found increasingly difficult to manage.  So since then I prune the branches every now and then to keep its growth in check, thus also limiting the quantity of leaves that would fall.  The dry leaves also serve as fuel for our hot water boiler. Mynahs, crows, spotted doves and other birds and also squirrels enjoy the tree's good shade.  It has also been the 'maternity home' for tailorbirds.

Two days ago I decided to prune it with the long bamboo stick with a curved hook-like knife to pull down the small branches.  Picture below shows the remaining branches after I pruned.

Inadvertently I had cut a branch that had a tailorbird nest which I saw at the time of dumping all branches into a pile.  Dusk was catching up as I finished pruning.  So I kept this branch separately to take a close look the next day.  

My morning coffee was in one hand, the nest in the other, I sat on the stone bench admiring both.  See how the extra cotton is pushed out on the sides - picture below.  This is to hold the cotton padding and [coconut] fibres in place, around the inside. This is a medium size leaf it has chosen.  There are even bigger leaves. I had provided these birds some nesting materials last month. See my recent post [click]. 

These birds do not read any books, attend any college or school, yet, they have so much commonsense.  

All they do is observe and follow their parents and follow their instincts.  This is what humans  should be aping! :)  Modern man never seems to take lessons from Nature. 

The nest looked fresh as I peeped inside.  While sipping coffee one more time, I thought for a moment that the little bird had grown and flown away without me noticing, unlike during its last nesting season.  Just then my eyes fell on a small white object a few feet from my stone bench where I was sitting.  That was where the cut branches had fallen. 

I picked up that white object, which was the egg, obviously having fallen out of the nest and landed on a small sand heap, safely.  I show the egg on my palm to indicate its size. 

As I was feeling sad, having disturbed the nest unknowingly, I saw the usual scene of the tailorbirds flying in for their first visit of the day to my Yarden.  One particular bird [out of the 3-4] started to look for something near the spot from where I had pulled down that particular branch.  It must be the builder searching for that nest which was now not where it was. It was clearly confused.
I felt really sorry for that and begged a silent pardon from the heart.   

  I hung the nest using a wire after keeping the egg in it.  Now even if the egg hatches and a chick arrives, it will not survive, because the parents will never find it in its disturbed location and hence will never get the parental care and food.  :( :(

I had dumped the big pile of leaves and branches out of our gate.  To my luck, the municipal waste pick up truck came within two hours, a sort of a record. And on its own!  See the pile below.

Here, carefully see the truck in front of our gate and the man putting the 'green gold' into it.  Picture from my room window.

Bird nest material dispenser - 2

I posted yesterday what becomes the 'part 1' now.  See older post.  I closed with the expectation that I would capture the tailorbird drawing cotton from the dispenser.  It had spotted the source within 2-3 hours of hanging it there.  I waited this morning as most birds are known to devote more time to search and shunt to and fro the new nest with the materials during the morning as it will be cooler.  Sure enough, at around half past seven, the tailorbird made a revisit.  I was about 20 feet away, sitting still, camera on the ready!

It had already made some trips by the time I spotted this - see how the cotton is disturbed.  I sat there after my morning coffee.

I must remodel this.  If the cotton moves down, it cannot perch and draw.  Here it can reach from the branch. 

I mentioned in my last post about my plan for another dispenser for fibrous material.  Here it is and that is why this is 'part 2'.  I had stiff copper wire.  About 2 metres were required to coil it using a long-neck PET bottle. a tip I got in the link given in the previous post. I used a centre wire to hold the top and bottom at the same distance and this serves as the hanger also.  I needed this to prevent the copper coil from stretching down. 

I thank my squirrel that had collected all those jute thread fibres available for it when the construction activity was going on previously and the workers had used the jute threads for scaffolding.  There were some longer pieces of rope also in the squirrel nest!  Ask me where it had made.  It was on the bedroom window, in the gap between the insect screen and the always-closed bottom-half wooden window, safe from rain and sun.  I had removed and kept the entire abandoned nest in some corner.  It came in handy for this more than 6 months later.  Now I'm waiting to see if they need the fibres.  I'll put some thread pieces and may be cotton also here.

Bird nest material dispenser -1

Some months ago while browsing for some ideas of a bird house, I bumped into a site wherein a bird nest material dispenser was featured.  It was something like this: See the link having a very brief  post.  It was a project I could make and I knew it was needed for our little feathered friends as well, in particular, the tailorbird. 

April to August is supposed to be the nesting season for the tailorbird and yesterday I saw this:

I thought this is the right time to provide them some easy pickings for their nesting endeavours.  I found a no-longer-in-use bill holder.  Bills were pierced through the top of the wire and pushed down to the wooden stand, which is actually a base of my grandfather's trophy which is in the showcase.  The base was too big for the rack.

I poked some surgical cotton which I keep in the first-aid box and some thread in the form of cleaning waste cotton [red thing] which is very thready.  I thought the birds would like them. This is a beginning experiment.

Since the item was ready, it took no time to install.  I hung it around noon on the hibiscus plant where the tailorbirds frequent.  And in the evening, I saw the cotton being pulled from different sides!  I had later hung it on the curry plant as I could view it clearly from the room window.  Usually in the mornings they are more active collecting materials. Let me see if I can catch them on camera, picking [with thanks] cotton.

I now plan to add some coconut fibre and jute thread and do what you saw in the link I gave in the beginning.  I will be trying to improvise on this project.

I had already made a post on the nests with images.  See it here. [Click]

Tailorbird from up close

This morning I had the closest encounter with my favourite little Tailorbirds.  They fly by on several occasions  during the day searching for insects for their food requirement. I started to sip hot coffee sitting on the stone bench beneath the Papaya Tree.  I noticed there were 4 or 5 birds tweeting and hopping from branch to branch of the Mexican Hat shrub.  

They were catching something and flying to the nearby Almond tree and returning to the shrub.  It was an indication that there could be its nest and some chicks there.  The leaves are huge which make it difficult to spot the nest.  

The speed with which they were catching some insect on the branch was too quick for my eye to follow.  All of a sudden, there would be something in its beak, much the same way magicians produce something out of nowhere with their sleight of hand.  They were tweeting even while holding it there for adjusting its angle for swallowing. It is interesting to watch them rub-clean their beaks against the branch after they swallow. 

I was sitting perfectly still, coffee glass in one hand.  For once, they could not identify my presence under the papaya tree!  The nearest two birds came was about 3 feet, on the papaya leaf above my head. I could not tilt my head up to see because this little movement could scare them.  I moved only my eyeballs to see it up close, its pink legs and lovely eyes as it chirped happily.  Today they were chirping more.  I wondered why.   After they flew to another shrub next to the papaya tree, I noticed two little chicks there.  The chicks are smaller, have short tails and beaks and tweet with a low 'voice'. They seemed to be learning their early lessons from their parents.  They may have been hatched recently in a nest on our Almond tree itself, like they did before and probably doing every nesting season. Now the parents would have been looking to feed them while teaching lessons. 

My ears were filled with their delightful music - tuvvytuvvee...... Shrill but thrill it was, coming from as close as just 3 feet.  And what a great way to start the day.   Here is an old video I had shot where you can listen to its song clearly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh0MN8kQL-8

The entertainment made me forget for once, that my coffee was getting cold in my own hand. When they flew away, I had to drink the the now cold beverage.  And for once, I had to stay still without even having the time to think of rushing in to bring the camera.  I had to content with what I was seeing.  It was absolutely delightful anyhow. 

Some old pictures:

 Adult

Its nest with the Almond leaf

 The chick.

Food in beak for feeding chicks.