Everyone loves a baby, Barbet

This is a rather lengthy blog because it is primarily about tracking the Lineated Barbets for over two months.
Following basic birding ethics about not revealing and displaying bird nesting whilst it's still active, I have decided to do this posting only after I'm certain that the juvy Barbet has fledged.

I first noticed that there could be a young one brewing when I saw the adult trying to scare off a squirrel, and so guessed that there must be a cavity nest somewhere.

After ensuring that the predator is gone, it indulged in some figs, offering some lovely photo opps.

The next time I saw it, it looked like there could be a chick already.

Then after a period of about ten days, I finally saw a pretty well-grown juvy; although even now, I was uncertain if this was the parent or the juvy.

Finally its behaviour and rather clean bill suggested that it's a juvy, in contrast to the adult's appearance.

Who wouldn't be enamoured by this little one?

The adult was now seen pretty active, flying in and out of the cavity hole, even staying inside and calling from the hole.

When it emerged with discards, it confirmed that the juvy was not going to leave any time soon, and still being fed.

The adorable juvy seen from time to time.

Sometimes it looked like the adult regurgitated the food to feed the young.

As usual the adult was always alert to what appeared to be external threats.  It was seen to exit the cavity upon detecting perceived noise or commotion and to be frantically searching for the source.

It's already two months, and feeding and cleaning of the nest were still seen to be ongoing.

The parent was once seen to arrive with what appeared to be some soft pulpy food for the young, unusual feed!

Another housekeeping.

The sought after pics would always be feeding at the cavity where the young could be seen to receive food from its parent.

The juvy certainly looked old enough to have fledged already but it was only seen subsequently to do so about a week later.

The last captures were the following pics whereafter there was no more activity seen around the cavity although the parents could still be spotted and heard calling out loud and continuously in the vicinity.
Perhaps coaxing the young to emerge, which it finally did to perch on the adjacent branch.

One can understand why this is not an easy bird to spot by the way it easily merges into the foliage background which bears close resemblance to its plumage in terms of the colours.  This is the general ingenuity of birds that is illustrated in their choice of nest and perch for camouflage purpose.  However, this Lineated Barbet always gives away its presence and location by its throaty calls.