And juvy makes three, Part I

To say I was on cloud nine would be an understatement, with this latest discovery.  And I should have paid more heed to my hunch, then I would have sighted this much earlier.
The sighting of a hole was the first sign , then the adult came with a fruit but flew off immediately, perhaps it sensed my presence.

And then the great mystery was solved when this little head popped out!  And oh ye, what a thrill!  My first barbet in a hole!

It was an exciting wait for the adults to appear as I could hear both parents busy calling out, communicating, which made junior pop its head out incessantly.

Then one came, at last.

It was off too soon, and another came back, although it's difficult to tell if it's the same one.  These were truly cautious birds as they were calling out to each other long before one came back.  It looked like they were trying not to reveal where the nest was as they flew everywhere except to their nest, and only to the nest when they thought that they were not detected.

The adult decided to follow in too, at this point I was still in the dark why it did so, until later when I made another discovery.

Again, the little one called out continuously for its parent, and it was truly adorable how it twisted its head about, to the parent's call.

Another quick visit by a parent and looked like it was looking for something as it kept popping its head in and out of the nest, finally it went in, and came out with what looked like waste, then I knew it had actually went in to clean the nest to emerge with junior's dried poop!  Oh, me and my slow reflex, that I missed the shot with the waste!

I found another angle to get my shots, more hidden from the birds, discovered that it may not be an ideal corner but the adult was now less aware of my presence from my new spot, as it spent a little time longer with junior.

Managed to observe what I thought were tender moments between the adult and its juvy.

The adult seemed to be pecking at junior's bill.  Could a little cleaning be going on here?

A loving look from the parent.

Some may not deem this bird beautiful but it is indeed.

Looked like a playful moment.

Another look before it flew off.

A longing look from junior.

Having observed junior for almost two hours, this is the first time I saw it looked like it was going to emerge from the nest but in it went instead.

Looking almost dejected as if it had been warned not to leave its nest.

Perhaps, mama or papa would come back soon.

Busy Swallows

It's always entertaining to watch the Pacific Swallows and it's the first time that I have sighted more than a pair in the taman.  The Swallows were seen to be in constant communication with one and another, always on the look out, always busy, and of course, always cute.

The birds seemed aware that they were being watched.

They were busy digging into the earth, grasping mud and dead grass, which I learnt later actually included roots of grass, for nesting materials.

It's no wonder that these birds were wary of being watched, as they were gathering nesting materials.

A family effort.

Oriole and its catch

The Black-naped Oriole looked like it had 'bitten off' more than it could chew!  It took the bird almost a minute to knock off its catch, a praying mantis, before it could swallow it.

Finally, only a bit more to go before it's all over!

Bathing Bulbuls

The water was just too tempting, and so in it went!
The Stripe-throated Bulbul was so engrossed that it didn't notice that I was pretty close by, until a little too late.  Then the bonus came when the second bird flew down.
Seriously dunked and on the shake!

Looked like the second one was just waiting for its turn to go in.

A disappointing walk

Being away for more than a week, I came back eager to find out if the awful construction that had started in the taman had already had any effect on the bird life here.  It was a quick walk through the taman then on a late afternoon, and it was pretty dismal!  Even the usual sightings of common birds were few, the Blue-tailed Bee-eaters which should still be around were nowhere in sight, a pretty quiet taman indeed!
I managed to spot the Brown Shrike though, still very skittish, and kept very much to its haunt.

So here's going through some old images as a pick-me-up - shots of this Lineated Barbet were taken a couple of weeks ago, and it looked like a young bird which could be a good sign that there's a family here.
An adorable moment!

These Blue-tailed Bee-eaters were seen about the same time.