There was plenty of bird activity at Hoskote lake last Sunday. Here are the pics...
Started with what looked like a Paddy Field pipit but not sure about the Id...
White-throated Kingfisher...
Plain Prinia...
Zitting Cisticola...
Indian Silverbill...
Paddyfield Pipit...
Pied Bushchat female...
Green Bee-eater...
Ashy Prinia...
Another Green Bee-eater...
And a pair...
Another Zitting Cisticola...
Found this tree with lot of Baya weaver nests that looked incomplete. I waited for the birds to turn up to capture them in action...
After a while, a male Baya weaver turned up with a strand of grass...
It inserted the strand of grass and after a quick 2 second inspection flew away to get the next strand...
After 15 minutes another male Baya weaver arrived. It looked around for for any sign of danger before proceeding to build its nest...
Another arrived with a bunch of strands...
It started re-enforcing the nest...
He displayed the skill of a professional...
The nests are built entirely by the males. The females come to inspect the nests and mostly reject...
Despite all the rejections, these guys continue to frantically build the nests. They sometimes add a new storey or two to a rejected nest to make it more appealing to the females...
It is hard work. A male bird is known to make up to 500 trips to complete a nest...
I spent more than an hour watching them make sorties carrying strands of grass...
As I was waiting for the Baya weaver to return, a White-browed Bulbul perched on the same tree...
The birds use their strong beaks to strip and collect the strands, and to weave and knot them while building their nests...
The nests are partially built before the males begin to display to passing females by flapping their wings and calling while hanging from their nests...
The females inspect the nest and signal their acceptance of a male. Once a male and a female are paired, the male goes on to complete the nest by adding the entrance tunnel...
A study has found that nest location is more important than nest structure for the female when it selects the nest and mate...
Abandoned nests are sometimes used by Indian Silverbills and other munias...
A Red-vented Bulbul perched on the same tree...
They were actually collecting clay from the puddle to build their nest...
Mud nests are constructed by both males and females...
An immature Long-tailed shrike was flying around with its parent...
The Long-tailed shrikes are easy to photograph. They won't fly too far away when they detect your presence...
Spotted dove...
A juvenile kite...
And the final bird for the day was a Common Kingfisher...
I hope you liked the post. Do let me know your feedback in the comments section below...
