Fledged

Well, it’s been quite a dramatic afternoon. 

The Red Whiskered Bulbul chicks, in the potted plant nearest the kitchen, while looked fast asleep in their crowded nest this morning all fledged this afternoon. 

I came downstairs after my workout and shower to find the four of them all at various stages of leaving their nest. Two of them were already enjoying their new freedom up high in the trees. The third, having learned quite enough for today, thank you very much, was perched in a tree, fell out into the flower bed beneath and, after having gathered together its dignity, settled in a different potted palm for most of the afternoon.

The drama continued for a few hours with the smallest sibling who had crawled out of the nest and refused to leave the plant. It finally fell to the ground and spent some hours alternately resting and hopping around on the ground pitifully cheeping and flapping its wings, watched by devoted but increasingly anxious-sounding parents on nearby trees.

As dusk fell we could not longer see it on the ground and feared that it would be easy prey for a passing rat or a snake. Or Raffles. And then, finally, we spotted it nestled in the tree.

The four siblings are so obviously at very different stages of development. The two oldest ones have magically assumed the identity of the parents as the day progressed, with red vents but without the red whiskers and were perched together up high on the top floor of the house. The two remaining chicks have a bit more developing to do, it would seem. But what a story in just over a week