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Fascinating bird behaviors

Birds exhibit a wide array of behaviors. On my weekend trip to Hoskote, I could witness some fascinating bird behaviors. Here are the pics...

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A White-throated Kingfisher sat on a branch and scanned the water with his sharp eyes...
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The eyes are so sharp, he could target a really small fish from few meters away...
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The frothy spittle mass, produced by a Spittlebug feeding on a Milkweed plant...
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A male Baya Weaver was frantically searching for food...
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I found a Baya Weaver colony nearby. The nests seemed to contain nestlings...
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The female Baya Weavers were also searching for food for the nestlings...
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The male Baya Weaver seemed to have better insect catching skills...
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He flew in with an insect every five minutes...

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He passes through the entrance tunnel...

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After 5 minutes, he's back with another insect...

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He's also seen keeping a vigil, mending the nest and bringing more food...
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Then my attention was drawn towards a tiny Indian White-eye...
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I was curious, what attracted the White-eye to the Baya weaver colony...

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The White-eye seemed interested in the nest strands of an abandoned Baya weaver nest. Securing nesting material for itself…

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It was trying hard to pull out the strips and strands...

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It could not extract the entire strand. The weaver's knots are perfect...

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It gives up after a while and moves to another nest...

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It is joined by another white-eye to attempt a daring heist...

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The nest is woven with long strips of paddy leaves. It is not easy to extract a strand…

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The White-eye is further frustrated. A male Baya weaver drives it away... 

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It thinks of fighting back...

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But the Baya Weaver's aggression makes it fly away...

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The colors from the bamboo clump looked good...
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I saw another Baya weaver colony nearby...
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Here, the males were trying to display the partially built nests to passing females for acceptance...
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They try to woo the females by flapping their wings and calling while hanging from their nests...

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The display looked interesting to me , but was not enticing any females...

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My attention was drawn towards this guy, who is still at the helmet stage of the nest, but was most actively trying to impress the female...

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It is likely, there will be no takers for this nest. Nest location is more important than nest structure for the female when she selects the nest and mate. And this one is located in a vulnerable area...








That's it for today. Hope you liked the post. Please post your thoughts in the comments section below...

Bangalore Flower show 2022

Lalbagh Botanical Gardens is currently hosting the Bangalore Flower show 2022 after a 2 year pandemic break. There were some native and foreign flowers on display.  Armed with a 100 mm macro and a 300 mm telephoto lens, I visited last Sunday morning. Here are the pics...

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It was drizzling when I reached Lalbagh. I was lucky to sight a faint  rainbow, as the sun peeped out from behind the clouds...
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I went straight to the glasshouse where the flowers were exhibited.
Several variety of Chrysanthemums were on display...
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Alstroemeria...
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Hardy fuchsia...
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Ageratum-Houstonianum...
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Queen Protea...
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Sunflower...
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Dianthus...

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This Dianthus with missing petals looked like a butterfly...

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Phlox...
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Phlox...
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Woolflowers...
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Chrysanthemum...
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Rose...
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Chlorophytum comosum...
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Phlox...
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Sunflower...
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Strawflower...
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Texas Bluebell...
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Eryngium...
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Salix Argyracea...
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Santini chrysanthemum...
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Moonshine Yarrow...
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Banksia...
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Fuchsia...
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Dahlia...
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Cape marguerite...
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Alstroemeria...
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Candle larkspur...
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Tulips...
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Silver Brunia...
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As the weather cleared, visitors started milling in. The glasshouse got overcrowded. I decided to move out and explore the things around the vast botanical garden...
There were Garden verbena in various colors...
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Garden verbena...
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Zinnia bud...
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A squirrel looked sad...
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A White-throated Kingfisher...
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And then it flew...
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I saw another Kingfisher with a catch...
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Then it flew...

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At the lake, I saw a Cormorant ducking for a meal...
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Garden Cosmos...
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Garden Cosmos...
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Zinnia...
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Zinnia...

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And another sad Squirrel...
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It was nice to see all these flowers after 2 years. Hope you liked the post. Please do comment below.