Thread: Any bird-watchers here? Please?!

We've got a couple of birds nesting in our garden, and this morning, two of their eggs hatched. Can anyone identify what kind of bird it is? This is dad.

Red-Whiskered Bulbul ( Pycnonotus jocosus)

yep, they are fairly common birds, but it is always nice when they decide to have young where you can see them

Looks like one of them noisey buggers that shout at night

I can never see them

Originally Posted by Thetyim

Looks like one of them noisey buggers that shout at night

That would be my drunken neighbors (Species: Maolaoious Ignorami).

The bird song is quite pleasant.

freesound :: view sample :: Red whiskered bulbul 3rd.wav

^
Thanks Norts.
That's not the one I was thinking of.
My one has a four note whistle that is loudly repeated for hours

We have that bugger down in Australia. It was introduced around 1880 but escaped into the wild and now only is found in a few small colonies on the east coast. As kids we put a fair dint in the population with our slug guns and sling shots.

Originally Posted by Thetyim

My one has a four note whistle that is loudly repeated for hours

Might be a Coucal or Cuckoo. They can be noisey buggers.

Originally Posted by Thetyim

Looks like one of them noisey buggers that shout at night

I rather appreciated their call.

Gotta spread the love, Mobs.

Description:

The Red-Whiskered Bulbul gets its name from the red whisker patch located below its eye. This bird feeds on a variety of fruits, insects and flower buds, and often does so in flocks of three to fifty birds.

Appearance:

Black face and long, pointed crest. Dark brown hindneck and upperparts. White foreneck, throat, and underparts. White cheek, which is separated from rest of neck by a thin dark line extending from bill to hindneck. Red ear patch and vent. Slender black bill. Long black tail with white tip. Immature birds are similar to adults, but lack the red ear patch, have a grayish-brown crown, and appear duller overall. Sexes similar. 7 inches in length.

Habitat:

Native to southern Asia, but have been introduced into parts of North America, such as southern Florida and Hawaii (unauthorized cage release in O'ahu around 1965).

Nesting:

2-4 pale pink eggs streaked and spotted with red. The eggs have a 24 day incubation period. Fledging occurs in ? days. The nest is a woven cup made from rootlets, bark, and leaves and lined with softer fibers. The nest is usually built in a low tree fork.

Red-Whiskered Bulbul

If the bush is freestanding I would suggest that you make a 2' diameter cone of heavy aluminium foil or get one of those things that you put around a dogs neck to stop it scratching its ears (NR can probably tell you what they are called) and duct tape it around the stem of the bush, about 2' off the ground .
Now the little buggers have hatched their movement will attract tree snakes and they will not last long .
Put sulphur on the ground around the tree and trim adjoining bushes etc to give about 2' clearance ( minimum)
I used to do this at my old house here after we lost 2 nests and never lost another one after.
Just done 3 trees at my brothers house !


Wide end of the cone nearest the ground !!- forgot that important bit !

Got a slightly better snap just now, still a bit fuzzy 'cos it was hand-held, maximum zoom, through a window. But what the hell, I'm not bustak or bobcock.



Actually, the male and female are pretty indistinguishable. I always assumed the male would have brighter colours, but apparently not for this species.

Thanks for the tips, Happyman. Trouble is, the bush is less than two metres from my front door, and the nest maybe only a metre off the ground. We planted some jasmine bushes all around the nesting bush before there was a nest, and I don't really want to clear them away again! The dogs tend to catch and kill anything moving around on the ground, including snakes and lizards.

But I'm worried that when the chicks start to think they can fly, we're gonna have to protect them from the dogs somehow. Some kind of safety net?

My pics are getting a bit better. These two from this morning:

mum and dad


mum or dad

They are still Red Whiskered Bulbul, whatever you do

nice to be able to watch the nest

This particular species of birds are very popular with Thais who keep them as cage birds and enter them in singing contests. I have never attended one of the competitions but I see one or other of the locals buzzing around on their Waves with the cages wrapped up in a towel, nearly every day.

that species Warwick

http://http://www.bangkokpost.com/ne...-singing-birds

I'm a word botcher if that's any help.

One more pic.

^

He has a good haul of grubs there !
When I feed my birds in the aviary there are always a group of "outsiders" waiting for 'spillage '!

If you want to keep the birds and their offspring around your house get a small feeding tray and fix it somewhere where you can watch it , relaxing with a cold beer of course, and get some mealworms from your nearest fish or bird shop !
They go 'apeshit' for them !
If the shop is a bit of a trip away them buy a shitload and keep them in a ventilated covered plastic tray - in the dry - and with a fine mesh grille for the false floor ( about 80 baht from a Bird shop)
Put a slice of bread in the tray every day or so and they will keep for a week or so !

An eggcup full a day is enough for 4 birds (10 - 15 baht) worth every one of them !!
Enjoy

Thanks for the tip, HM.

Originally Posted by benbaaa

The dogs tend to catch and kill anything moving around on the ground, including snakes and lizards.

Be careful with ya dogs mate, A 'friend' of mine in Samui does snake rescue and told me of a persons dog..who they were quite pleased to tell him catches snakes!!!! till it was a cobra...then no more dog...they weren't so chipper after that... (remember a new born cobra or any other venomous snake has the same venom load as an adult!!!! be warned)

I live in Trang and they go nuts for these gorgeous birds in cages!!! It's just beyond me that they lock up these beautiful creatures in such small cages..

In my old town of Pak Chong we had them like you flying free around our house...great to watch them...well free as a bird...

Thailand the 'land of cruelty to animals' just look at their dogs for example!!! so what chance has a bird got???

I wanna bust them out of their cages...but I was told that some can be 'worth' up to 10,000 baht if they have a good whistle!!!! Hey life's very cheap here so they'd defo' whack ya for that shit....Think I'll just buy some from a pet store and release them infront of my neighbours...FARANG BAR!!!! I can hear it already