Why the bulbul built a nest at our doorstep

Why did the bulbul choose a tree at the entrance to our house to build a nest?  Well, here is the story.

Our garden has feral cats, shikras and tree pies visiting regularly.  Needless to say all three are predators of birds.  The bulbul perceived less threat from the occupants of the house.
I Watched the parent birds and chick through the camera sitting in my house comfortably. Visitors to our house never noticed the nest, so the chick hatched successfully and grew into a handsome bulbul. 

An organic garden which is not manicured, but left to grow naturally.  That is the secret of attracting birds and butterflies into your garden. For me the pleasure of gardening is complete when I see it come alive with bird chirpings.

Please share the video if you like it.  Please also tell  what you think about the video.  Here is the link to the video.

https://youtu.be/csI7uur4mt8

Wildlife and nature around us

Plants around us are havens for wildlife!

Correction: What is written as "Nest of a warbler" is actually the nest of a sun bird. Sorry for the error.

Wildlife in an organic garden

Butterflies in a backyard kitchen garden

Cats!!!!

Feral cats are descended from domestic cats but are born and live without human contact. Any environment that sustains people can sustain feral cats, who are known to have thrived in urban, suburban, and rural areas in all parts of the civilized world.



Feral cats may be apex predators in some local ecosystems.

Feral cats can be effective hunters of small animals.



Felidae is the biological family of the cats. Felids are the carnivores. The most familiar felid is the domestic cat, which first became associated with humans about 10,000 years ago, but the family includes all other wild cats including the Tiger.


With the above background knowledge, when I saw mother cat training the younger one in the art of holding a prey down, I had to record the event even if it meant shooting through a glass!

See the video on feral cats at

https://youtu.be/9snt1048d9I

Cats can be wild too! Feral cats are descended from domestic cats but are born and live without human contact. Cats belong to the family ' felids', with strong, flexible bodies, quick reflexes, sharp retractable claws, and teeth adapted to killing small prey.
Here the mother cat is teaching its young one how to hold on to prey just caught. The play of motherly affection interspersed with strict injunctions made this video interesting. This was shot through a glass partition separating the lawn from my house.

To help or not to help....

When I photographed this plump larva on the small lime plant, I had visions of it metamorphosing into a beautiful lime butterfly.


Two days later I saw that a group of babblers had entered the garden and were busy scouting for food with their sharp eyes focused on plants like a search light. Watching from the kitchen, my first thought was "should I drive them away, because I could see that there is little chance of the lime larvae escaping attention.

Then the thought came "Who am I to play God, after all the babbler has as much of a right to live as the larva. So I watched.

Sure enough, within minutes, the loudest and and biggest babbler had got his prize-a plump green larva in his beak- the very same one which I was waiting to see the transformation into a lime butterfly. All visions of the flitting butterfly crushed in a moment!

Few days later



This white eye chick has just fallen from its nest. It is so motionless, yet a mild quiver of the body says it is alive. I resist an urge to pick it up and put it on a nearby tree. Soon I hear the frantic parents on another tree.



White eyes are usually very muted in their songs-one has to strain the ears to hear them while they are foraging. But just now the parent birds were ballistic- flying about and chirping continuously. Again I watched from a distance.



As if motivated by the coaxing of the parents, the chick flew a short distance. The coaxing continued and the chirping shriller.



About half hour later, I found the chick had managed reaching the nearest bush-a jasmine plant. It kept sitting there while the parents came with morsels of food.



So this story ended happily- it was clear that the chick had overcome the fall and was on its way to start life again.