Wildlife through my/ your lense...

[Neverna]

^^ They've got a really distinctive high-pitched call

It's actually one of my favourite bird calls in Thailand.

[Mendip]

A dilemma... how to nail this wasp?

Darwinism in action...

[Chittychangchang]

^Oh dear

Speaking of which, snapped this elegant chap a while back...

[Mendip]

The hoopoe's chicks must have hatched...

Mum and dad waiting for a pigeon to go away... Male and female hoopoes seem to look exactly the same?



Action shot... the pigeon gone, time to feed the chick (s)?





A tidbit for the babies...

[NamPikToot]

Great shots Mendip, they always raise a smile when i see them and you are lucky to have them nesting. I have a few concrete columns dotted around and your situating nesting boxes has triggered a wish to do the same. One question though, given snakes can scale just about anything have you ever had them clear out a nesting box?

[Mendip]

^ Not that I know of, but of course it could have happened without my knowing.

One thing I have noticed is how reluctant many birds are to nest in a box with a small opening - maybe due to snakes. I'll take some pics tomorrow and expand...

[Neverna]

Male and female hoopoes seem to look exactly the same?

The female is probably a bit duller or lighter in colour than the male.

[Mendip]

^^^ NPT, I went through a 'nestbox building phase' a few years ago and made quite a lot.

I started by making them all with a round hole entrance, but nothing went near.

This one has never been nested in (apart from a family of those horrible bladdy great big centipedes one time)



So, I tried opening up the front, but then they just get taken over by pigeons.



I made 'terraced' nestboxes for the sparrows, but even after opening up the fronts from the original round hole entrances, they have never been used.



Must admit I thought the sparrows would love these but they seem to prefer nesting in the house guttering and having their nests washed away every time it rains.

I think the main risk is tree snakes coming down from above, as from what I've seen the snakes can't go up a smooth wall past the point at which their tail can give some push up from the ground. Maybe this is what put the sparrows off? The nestbox our hoopoes are in is pretty safe from above, and high up. This morning...



I'm going to move the other boxes and see if I get them all inhabited. But back to your question... we have lost occasional clutches of chicks to snakes coming in the chicken run. I've read that snakes can smell the odour eggs release when they are ready to hatch, and then move in to wait for the baby chicks. We certainly often we get rat snakes in the chicken run just before egg clutches are due to hatch. Clever buggers those snakes.

[Troy]

A Golden tree snake looking for geckos on our patio yesterday

[Chittychangchang]

Outstanding pic Troy!

How close did you get?

[Troy]

^ Telephoto lens; it was a good 6 feet away and a couple of feet above me. Climbing up into the patio roofing. Love the way they can extend themselves when climbing.

[Troy]

An oriental garden lizard. Yet another one saved from the dogs...

[Stumpy]

Well our first Tortoise hatched this morning. I got it out of the incubator so it could move around and shed its egg shell. Its walking around. I will now be on egg hatching alert for the next few weeks.

[Mendip]

Cute!

Are there specialised tortoise egg incubators or can you use ones for chicken eggs?

I believe that the chicken egg incubators not only control temperature but also humidity, and also rotate the eggs during incubation apart from during the last few days.

[Stumpy]

Are there specialised tortoise egg incubators or can you use ones for chicken eggs?

Yeah we bought a small one that the guy customized for tortoises temp (30c to 32c) and humidity. (60% to 80%). Tortoise eggs you do not rotate. I guess it kills them and being that the female digs a hole and buries them never to return that make sense.

We have 44 eggs. Not sure how many will hatch. They incubation period is 90 to 110 days. This first one hatched at 97 days.

[ootai]

JPPR2
On your way to the first million baht once you get the market established.
Have your 'boys" been humping the female(s?) again yet?

[Stumpy]

JPPR2
On your way to the first million baht once you get the market established.
Have your 'boys" been humping the female(s?) again yet?

Yeah ootai, Big money rolling our way. . I told my wife if we can sell enough to pay for the incubator ( 3100 bht) the rest is all upside. My wife now has her license to sell them and our female is registered with the Thai animal control division in CM. Apparently if you try and sell them without a license you can be fined.

No, the boys have stopped chasing the poor gal. She seems to stay on the other side of the property away from them. I do however think she laid another batch on the property that my wife was not watching. I saw her digging around during my last visit before I had to leave. So I marked it on my calendar as there might emerge a batch late May early June. With this virus situation I might still be here.

[NamPikToot]

That's great Japper, what do you feed them on?

[Stumpy]

That's great Japper, what do you feed them on?

First 3 to 4 days just water. They have to close up their umbilical opening leaving the shell

Here are the breeding pair



The big male





Female in front and big male in back

They were out and about today as I watered the front lawn

[Mendip]

Our pair of nesting hoopoes this morning, silhouetted against the rising sun.

Both with food their mouths and waiting for me to go away before feeding their young.

A good photographer could have probably made something of this.

[Stumpy]

Great pics Mendip.

I have a nesting pair of the "Greater Coucal" or Red Eyed Chestnut hopper as some call them in my hedges. Big bird. Very shy and have a loud call. I have tried to get some pictures but they are extremely keen and bail out quick. I read that if you pressure them, they will abandon their nest so I leave them alone.

[Stumpy]

Have 5 Tortoises hatched and doing well. 3 more exiting their shells now.

[Stumpy]

Few more hatched

[Stumpy]

First few are out now feeding. Put them buy their parents



Male



Female

[NamPikToot]

Saaaweeeeeeet, do the parents notice them and react to them?