Danaraj Maniam documented a pair of Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier) feeding a pair of chicks in the nest at Kampung Pisang in Batu Gajah, Perak, Malaysia. This is a wetland area with lots of duck and fish farms amidst abandoned mining pools.
At around 8am on that day, Danaraj spotted this adult bulbul with food in its mouth. Sensing that it was about to feed its chicks, he followed the bird and found its nest with chicks in it.
Stationed some distance away, he spent about three hours documenting the food the adults brought to feed the chicks. Above show the adult with dragonfly (above-left) and grasshopper (above-right). Below is the adult with caterpillar (below-left) and a butterfly (below-right) to feed the chicks.
Also fed to the chicks was a mantis (below-right) and a fruit (below-right).
The two chicks in the nest with widespread gape exposing the red inner surface of the mouth, begging for food is shown below-left. On the right is the adult with an unidentified food.
Yellow-vented Bulbuls regularly remove wastes from the chicks that is encased in a gelatinous faecal sac, as seen below-left). The growing chicks about to fledge in the nest (below-right).
On the third day Danaraj returned but the nest was empty. The chicks had fledged.
However, the fledglings were still around the area for the next nine days during June 2015 (above-left). The adults were still caring for the fledglings (above-right).
Danaraj Maniam
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
September 2015
