The Red-Whiskered Bulbuls (Pycnonotus jocosus) build an intricate cup-shaped nest with materials like plant roots, stems, leaves and flowering branches carefully weaved together LINK. This nest is firmly lodged between a branch fork and is not easily dislodged by wind and rain.
On the other hand the nest of the Pink-naped Green-pigeons (Treron vernans) is a simple platform of twigs placed together with minimum intertwining. Such a nest is unstable under stormy conditions as witnessed in the recent nesting – see HERE. Although the nest itself survived the storm, the chick did not.
As mentioned HERE, pigeons are not the greatest architects, “…the male will take a stick and the female will take a stick and they’ll put them together and then they’ll lay an egg, and that doesn’t bode well for the egg. So we always say that the Pink Pigeon approach to nest building is two sticks and a prayer.”
According to Amy Sobrielo, the building philosophy “two sticks and a prayer” of pigeons is probably and exaggeration but it implies a nest that is not adequate, and that it’s luck that the eggs don’t fall off…”
YC Wee & Amy Sobrielo
Singapore
13th March 2019