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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...

47 comments:

  1. Nature is always surprising and fascinating.

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  2. The Baya Weaver nests are so interesting and photogenic! It must take a tremendous amount of work to construct one.

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  3. Each picture you show is a work of art in itself! You make everything beautiful (even insect spit !). Wonderful studies of bird behavior. Your painting in the top photo is wonderful too.

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  4. Baya Weaver nests look almost like a village. They sure work hard to make a nest and keep it all together and feeding their young and themselves. My favorite photo was the Spittlebug feeding on a milkweed plant.

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  5. It is my desire to join a bird watching trip someday.

    Worth a Thousand Words

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  6. What beautiful photos.
    I think the White-throated Kingfisher is very beautiful, it is not found here.
    The weaver makes beautiful nests, also we never see them here, you can only see them in a zoo.
    Greetings Irma

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  7. Again beautiful photos although those nests hanging in a tree do give a big alien like feeling. That bird sanctuary is truly unique.

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  8. I loved this post Shiju, like all your others.

    Recently we had one of the birders capture a White-throated Kingfisher preying on a Prinia. That was just out of the ordinary.

    Going birding this week, and hoping to see the Indian Pitta. It's been 2 years since I last saw it.

    I love all the Baya Weaver shots and their stories you shared. I have been awe-struck by their tenacity since I was a kid.

    These are absolutely gorgeous and divine. I love your garden sit-out too.
    Have a delightful weekend!

    https://natashamusing.com/2022/08/the-long-weekend-getaway-part-i-natasha-musing/

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  9. This is a fascinating photo essay and brings back memories of a Baya Weaver colony in Singapore. It is always both fascinating and rewarding to observe animal behaviour. Well done with this sequence.

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  10. Beautiful birds and amazing nests!

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  11. It was interesting to read and see the Baya weaver colony. Hope they all get their females!

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  12. Hello. I always enjoy looking at the photos you take. They are absolutely gorgeous. Thank you.

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  13. Nice work Shiju. Those Bayas are beautiful as well as being highly skilled builders. Bird behavior is certainly a very fascinating aspect of natural history.

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  14. Hello,
    The Weaver colony is a great find. They are beautiful birds, it is neat seeing the male so busy taking care of the nest and feeding the young. I love the Kingfisher and your beautiful Baya Weaver photos. As always, gorgeous post and photos. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a happy weekend. Thank you for leaving me a comment.

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  15. beautiful Baya Weaver and its behavior....
    thank you for sharing beautiful photos as always .....

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  16. Dear Shiju,
    I find weaver birds and their nests so fascinating. In Namibia we saw some nests of different weaver bird species - all works of art! Your photos are again enormously artistic, too, I'm thrilled!
    All the best and happy weekend!
    Traude
    https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2022/08/mallorca-reisebericht-teil-4-tag-9.html

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  17. Wow. I've never seen nests like that. Your narration of the action was vital. Thank you.

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  18. I love those nests, they are so unusual and neat looking. The photo you put together to begin your post is my favorite! I love the art supplies and everything shown with your photos. You make some really neat ones but this is my new favorite!

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  19. Your patience is amazing, in waiting for these birds to display their various behaviors. What fascinating images!

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  20. An amazing post with beautiful pictures and very interesting commentary.

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  21. Wow, great pictures! The weaver is fascinating.

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  22. ...once again you have a fabulous collection, thanks for sharing.

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  23. What a treat to see these weaver birds and their homes. Thank you, Shiju.
    Beautiful captures as always.

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  24. What an extraordinary scene to come upon. These photos are exceptional...and educational. Wow. I am in total awe.
    I dropped by once again to give my thanks for sharing and linking in at I'd Rather B Birdin

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  25. LOVED this post...how exciting to see this here and how lucky you were to see this in real time!! the male baya weaver is quite an extraordinary bird, i really enjoyed reading about it and your images are outstanding!!

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  26. Wow! Your feathered friends photos are fantastic and love to see the nest building behavior and nests ~ thanks, Xo

    Wishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,

    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  27. The bird making it like a womb, beautiful images.

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  28. wow, I love the hanging nests and beautiful inhabitants. :) I have seen some similar ones on one of my trips. Probably Costa Rica. But we could not come that close. Nice shots of all of them and......you are a great painterartist tooo. I enjoyed it a lot. :)

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  29. Fabulous photos from start to finish! And the nest colony is amazing.

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  30. Very interesting post about the different birds and their behaviour. It is interesting to watch the male birds wooing the female birds.

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  31. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  32. Sorry, my first comment published before I was finished. Your photos are more marvelous than ever! It was fascinating to see the habits of the birds. The weaver colony nests was so interesting to see and the kingfisher is always so pretty to view--those colors! Your watercolor captured them all so beautifully--I really admire your talent in both photography and art

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  33. What beautiful shots you always take so clear and colourful and best of all interesting

    Have a feathertastic week 👍

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  34. Beautiful photos. The weavers are so interesting! And I LOVE kingfishers so I especially enjoyed those photos.

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  35. The tiny little white eye birds are amazing, trying to steal materials for nests that are hard to steal from. It's very interesting how the male weavers build the nests and then try to attract mates.
    And again this week, superb photos of all the birds.

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  36. New for me, all the birds. So nice.

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  37. Thanks for taking us along on your bird-watching trips! My first time to see Baya weaver nests, I think they're fascinating! Mine's here ~ Ms. Donyarific

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  38. Beautiful birds and I love to watch them make their nests. So precious.

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. ♥

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  39. Oh I love your sharing of the nestling and the bird entering. Your work should be published. Has it ever?

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  40. Bless the lake, her birds, and you

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  41. Lovely captures...
    and Wow a fantastisc drawing.

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  42. The Baya Weavers are amazing and so pretty. This is the first time I've seen or heard of them. Thanks for sharing your beautiful photography.

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