Friday, August 03, 2007

It's Twins!!!

Last Friday, 27 July 2007, I wrote:


Got back tonight and was told by my kids that 2 babies have hatched and their chirps are still rather weak. Will try to confirm for myself tomorrow. Stay tuned for more photos.
Today is Friday, 03 August, and the twins have reached ‘full-week’ and have grown some feathers.

Sunbird babies 03(03Aug07)

They have developed a ferocious appetite and mummy and daddy are kept busy all day.

Sunbird feeding03

Sunbird feeding02

Sunbird feeding01

I noticed an interesting behaviour. After they have found some food, they would not fly directly to the nest. Maybe, they spotted me lurking behind the curtains with my camera. So what they do (see photos below) is to first fly to a nearby branch and check out the situation for about 10 to 20 seconds. When they are sure that the coast is clear, then they will fly to the nest to feed the babies. I think the one in the top photo is the female and the one with the dark chest is the male.

Sunbird waiting02 (female)

Sunbird waiting01 (male)

I also noticed that after feeding the chicks, it will stick its neck right inside the nest and remove some white colour stuff. Could this be the chicks’ droppings?

Sunbird remove rubbish01

Sunbird remove rubbish02

11 comments:

Victor said...

Congratulations on the new additions to your family.

Aiyah Nonya said...

Congratulations ! You must be real proud. :)

YC said...

Many birds remove the wastes from the chick contained within a mucilaginous covering, known as a faecal sac. This is usually picked up directly from the posterior end of the chick the very moment it is excreted and dropped away from the nest. See link: http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/?p=1045 with the Oriental White-eye.

Lam Chun See said...

Hmmm ... Wonder if they clean their beaks before the next mission:)

Anonymous said...

Chun See- you mentioned that the chicks's daddy and mummy were working very hard looking for food for their young. Maybe you could lend a helping hand by getting some worms for the chicks when their parents are away.

Victor said...

But Stanley, what if the chicks are overfed and then become too heavy to fly? In that case, they may never leave the nest.

In my opinion, it's better to let nature takes its course. The law of the jungle always applies to animals, i.e. survival of the fittest.

Lam Chun See said...

Talking about the law of the jungle, you guys should read these two accounts of how the Black-naped Oriole raided the nests of sunbirds and attacked the young chicks. I am getting very worried about my twins.

(1)

(2)

I am beginning to think that my 'paparazzi' antics may actually be good for the sunbirds.

Ivan Chew said...

From Pitcher Plant to Sunbirds. Not bad, leh :)

Tom said...

Tom said ...
Idid not know that you are a twitcher,that word nickname for people who loves feather birds and takes photographs of them and goes out side looking for them.
Chun See, your photographs of your sunbirds and twins look good.

Lam Chun See said...

Nah .. I am not a 'twitcher'. It's just that these wonderful creatures came right into our home and it got me interested. And it's been real fun learning about them hands-on.

Anonymous said...

Chun See, have you thought of giving names to the twins??