okayy i need your big ass camera plus 3 hands....

more updates from my bamboo plant...

managed to sneak up to the nest while the parents were away...to take some horrible photos while balancing precariously on a stool.. eh i couldn't even see wad im taking...juz held the cam near the nest and kept clicking away randomly..

Photo 1: too far...



Photo 2: so blur



Photo 3: stupid leaf...



Photo 4: another leaf..that's why i need 3 hands..



Photo 5: leaf-clearing attempt near the nest...since the chicks' eyes havnt opened yet, they thought the pressures exerted by my hand on the branches were their parents landing...and they popped out to beg for food...
did they change colour or what...turned bright red.. :p



i read from my textbook that (for another species) the red colour lining on the beaks of begging chicks will induce the parent to feed them.. okayy...so for this species the whole body turns red?? hahah...

Photo 6: the closest pic i could take without any leaves blocking the inside of the nest...unfortunately one of the parents came back at this time and started fluttering around frantically...
WTF IS THIS APE DOING TO MY NEST!!???
im sorry... :( won't go near your nest again...
should have left and waited for the next round of feeding before coming back...



Some possible consequences predicted by me for causing undue stress to the parents:
1) Parents may abandon the nest (after this round of breeding..since they are still there now)
2) Reduced food for both nestlings and adults if the parents were to increase vigilance/protection by staying in the nest for longer periods of time (sian..ok ok my fault)
3) Parents will attack the stupid ape the next time the stupid ape is spotted (oh no!!!)

Photo 7: the closest i could get without the adult flying away...can see the white-eye ring..too bad can't distinguish the colours from there



My mum pointed out the white fluff used for building the nest and wondered where the birds took all the cotton wool from..i told her they pulled everything from the carpet that we placed on our doorstep..hahah
they should be cobwebs lah...interesting huh...wonder which neighbour didnt clean their house :p

the sad thing is...i think one of the birds may get pushed out of the nest before it fledges..most prob the one on the left in photo 5.. i read from other accounts that the nest may be too small to contain all the chicks (this nest only 5-6 cm in diameter) and chicks can get pushed out before they can fly properly...

most of the food will go to the strongest/noisiest/most conspicuous beggar (the extreme right chick in photo 5) since it has the highest chance of surviving later. No point wasting energy and food on a weak sickly chick..Seems like the weakest is the one on the left in photo 5..

So the parents are in fact practising infanticide..albeit a slow one by hastening the death of the weaker chicks....
hope i dun see any chicks lying on the ground over the next few days..