I Spy Chicks - March 2015

What a feast we had when a Mother bulbul built a nest on our neighbour's bamboo plant! We're reading about Birds from the Charlotte Mason's Parables from Nature - and what joy to find exactly two chicks and two adult Bulbuls in our backyard!

Two beautiful cute chicks in the nest!

Could not contain his curiousity anymore!

Yellow-vented Bulbul looking for food nearby.

Mother Bulbul feeding the chicks - it's very frequent feeding at first, like every 15-20 minutes, then the interval got longer as they grew. They're a busy and noisy lot.

Hungry nestling birds waiting for Mama!

Papa and Mama close by to make sure chicks were safe. They're very protective of the chicks. Once, a few robins and tailorbirds (yes, right in our backyard) came and there was a terrible fight. Soon the other birds got the message and left.

See the little nestlings looked nothing like the adult Bulbul.

A fledgling now, fell from its nest and hopped around looking for Mama. See its feathers not well-developed yet and some parts you could even see the flesh. To cut the story short, the other chick didn't survive - there're a few nights with heavy thunderstorm, and the sparse bamboo couldn't protect it. Sad. We tried to feed the surviving fledgling with bits of mulberries. But it made so much noise trying to get away. We're worried that the parents might abandon the chick too. Tried many ways to reunite it with the parents. Finally, it happened, they're all gone and it's peace and quiet again. Brandon was so sad, he would love to keep the chick. He has to learn to let go - the birds have gone to the Unknown Land, just like the story in the Parables from Nature. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al-Attas Garden in Janda Baik - 4 August 2012

Image
Besides being a well-known contentious writer, little do we know that Syed Hussein Alattas is also a self-taught gardener and an architect. He had built Taman Hana in Janda Baik from scratch and named after his wife.  Taman Hana sits on a 8-acre plot of land in the quiet village of Janda Baik. It boasts a collection of 1,000 species of plants including fruit trees, more than 700 big flower pots and five buildings that include the home of the Alattas family.  The good news is that it is open to visitors every day.  As we made our way past the entrance, this place appeared unkempt. It was well beyond its heyday (in 2008) but still showing off its faded beauty. Some parts were badly neglected, which was so unfortunate, because it originally was to be a quiet kampung retreat. A mix of traditional Malay, Peranakan, Indonesian and colonial British architecture and a Minangkabau styled roof. Syed Hussein had actually started building the structures in 1982 and he spent a lot of time
Read more

Spilling the Beans in Ipoh - 6 Apr 2012

Image
Ipoh's familiar specialty - Nga Choy Kai or the Taugeh (Bean Sprouts) Chicken. What else to accompany the poached chicken than the fresh, fat and crunchy Ipoh famous bean sprouts!! The bean sprouts are served blanched, with a dash of sesame oil, white pepper and soy sauce. Ipoh is a well-known food haven in Malaysia, and most will agree that Ipoh's bean sprout is the best in Malaysia. The premium-grade bean sprouts come from the Buntong New Village, which is also my husband's hometown. Growing bean sprout requires only water and more importantly, watering techniques. Madam Toon told us that there were at least 8 operators in Buntong. They were all family-owned businesses, and the three Toon brothers have been growing bean sprouts for more than 70 years.  Bean sprouts are grown from black mung beans imported from Myanmar. The beans need to be watered every 4 hours throughout the day for 5 days, no shortcut, otherwise they will be not be fat and juicy. At
Read more

A Potter Village in Sayong - 30 May 2013

Image
Pit Stop at the Perak royal town, Kuala Kangsar. The 1st rubber tree in Malaysia was planted in this town. That's about all I knew about this place. Labu Sayong or water pitcher from Sayong village, known for its health value to help migraine, lower blood pressure etc due to the special properties inherent in the local clay. Before this, we didn't know much of labu sayong.  We didn't go to the village or plan this visit. Out of curiousity, we bumped into this unassuming workshop at No. 3, Kg Setia, Enggor, run by Mohd bin Harun.  Pakcik was very open and gave us a tour of his workshop and how he makes labu sayong. His warm, friendly welcoming people made a lasting impression on all of us - a trait that we've lost in the big cities. The traditional way of making labu sayong uses hands to mould the clay into the shape of a 'labu' (gourd-like vase) but this is too slow. Now, the clay mixture is poured into standard mould blocks. It's
Read more