The St Andrew's Blue-Throated Bee-Eaters

[wkcheah76]

The depth of the nest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-1U1u4duqA&feature=related

SAVED!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbU5cPUTClo&feature=related

Many questions were posed, why do we change the course of nature? Why do we so 'Ke Kiang' so save the chicks? My question is LIFE important.

 

[F2point8]

Micky,
Thanks for the answers to my questions - did they fledge in time, obviously not.... Sad.
Thanks to all of you for trying to save the chicks - something you all must do and you did well. Congrat for a marvellous efforts!

Just one request: can you put some names to the faces? Who was wearing grey and who was wearing blue in the photo and videos? Who was the lady in green looking down? Just want to congrat and thank you all when I have chance to meet you!

Cheers!

 

[limmick]

Micky,
Thanks for the answers to my questions - did they fledge in time, obviously not.... Sad.
Thanks to all of you for trying to save the chicks - something you all must do and you did well. Congrat for a marvellous efforts!

Just one request: can you put some names to the faces? Who was wearing grey and who was wearing blue in the photo and videos? Who was the lady in green looking down? Just want to congrat and thank you all when I have chance to meet you!

Cheers!

Hi Raymond... to answer your request for names to faces...

 

[limmick]

To round off this Scene 7, there were a total of 3 chicks dug out from nest 1. The nesting hole was very long and deep and we could not dig till the end to the nesting chamber... the 3 chicks actually walked up to the exposed part of the tunnel where they were then retrieved... All the 3 chicks were quite big/old already and just about to fledge. In fact, one did manage fly off by itself when we were carrying them to the building... so we were left with 2 juvenile BTBE chicks. The workers were really very excited too and in fact contributed the yellow pail in which to house the 2 remaining chicks... and these 2 chicks were then brought home by Jonathan (aka wkcheah76) who became their foster daddy for the next few days ! :heart:

The lingering thought was that less than one more week was probably all that was needed for the chicks to be reared in their natural environment and to be able to fledge successfully... Nest 1 was the "oldest" nest as the feeding activities started there first with the 2 remaining nests starting feeding quite a bit later - so we all crossed our fingers and hoped for more 'peaceful' days ahead for the 2 remaining nests...

 

[F2point8]

Hi Micky,

Thanks for the naming of the three knights and their ladies. Just wondering how come no "limmick"??? You must be the one taking the photos, I guess.

So when is scene 8 coming? Fate of the juveniles? I am anxious to know....
Cheers!

 

[limmick]

Hi Micky,

Thanks for the naming of the three knights and their ladies. Just wondering how come no "limmick"??? You must be the one taking the photos, I guess.

So when is scene 8 coming? Fate of the juveniles? I am anxious to know....
Cheers!

Hi Raymond, ya - I was the one taking some of the 'recording' pics of the events for that day and that particular pic above... :bsmilie:

Scene 8 (which reveals the fate of the juveniles) is just "around the corner"... please "hold on to your horses!" hehe...

 

[limmick]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SCENE EIGHT (8): The 'RESCUE - PART TWO and RELEASE - PART ONE' - Rescue (Part 2) and Release (Part 1) of the BTBE Chicks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so we continued with our monitoring of the 2 remaining BTBE nests - the feedings were still going on regularly and the construction work seemed to have moved away from the nesting field for the moment also. So even as we knew that we could intervene and dig out the remaining nests/chicks, we did not do so as we wanted the chicks to have as many days as possible in their natural habitat and being fed/cared for by their parents... each day gained is one day stronger for their survival we felt...

Then 3 days later another change occured which affected the nestings again... this time, huge pipes were placed near the Nest 2 area...

and the same behavior from the parent BTBEs was observed... they would fly around the area frantically with prey/feed in their mouths and perch on nearby branches on both the right and left sides of the nest but did not land on the ground and go into the nest... we monitored for another few hours just to be certain and then again decided that we must take intervening action - so the 'Rescue 2' call went out and the time was set for lunch time that day - during the period when the workers take a break and so minimise any disruption to their construction work...

So at the appointed hour a few of us gathered at the site and went to the site manager to request for permission to dig again... he was again most accomodating and sent his China foreman to accompany us to find the nests... this time the nest was easy to locate (the marking stick was intact as well) and also the Thai senior worker mentioned that he ensured that the pipes did not cover the hole... but the pipes were only about 2 feet away and thus the parent BTBEs were not comfortable to continue feeding their chicks even though the hole was not coevered/blocked up...

Lesson to be learnt here: There is a definately a comfort zone - usually more than just a few feet - likely more than a few metres, where humans (and even inanimate objects as in this case - the pipes) will disturb/interfere with nesting birds and cause them to stop or even abandon their nests/young !

So on with Rescue 2 mission...

 

[Yih Yeong]

Thanks Micky for the introduction to Scene 8!

Rescue (Part 2): We dug another 2 nests that blazing hot day during the workers lunch hour. We discussed and decided to do so cos heavy work is going to start soon and it is then or never.

This is the first nest we started to dig that day

Managed to save 2 chicks from this nest

However, we found one unhatched egg and 1 dead chick in the nest

 

[Yih Yeong]

The second nest we dug that day. (the Army has trained us well!). It took us around 5 mins to dig until we reach the chicks.

Managed to find 2 live chicks

2 chicks in the hands of Micky. We quickly place them in the shade cos the hot is v bright and hot.

1 chick was found dead. As you can see, the nest also contained various food.

 

[wkcheah76]

Micky digging with bare hands to ensure that the chicks would be safe.

Micky recovers the carcass and an unhatched egg. This is similar to the Nest 3 as both encountered the same scenario where the adults were unable to feed to just-hatched chicks for more than 24 hours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btwvo_hhjgQ

A close up on the head. Ypu can still observe the milk tooth used to break the egg shell!! Luckily, the older chicks were able to sustain starvation for that duration!!!

The life chicks are recovered later because of the layout of the nest whereby the 'trash' were at the bottom. The top ledge where the life chicks were only caved in from further digging, causing the chicks to descend.

Once in the open, the chicks started to move up the tunnel to the new foster parent!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmxlH709BgA

 

[wkcheah76]

They were collected into their new home, the Yellow Ark

And when they are hand fed, they sprang at the meal worms after being denied nutrition for so long.

Meanwhile, the 2 BTBE chicks from the first rescue were ready....

They were deemed ready, when they were 'kimono-ing' - a term of wing spreading as observed in many species for example dollarbird. They find perching 'easier' than sitting on the ground. When exposed to sunlight, they were very excited and calling loudly when other BTBEs in the neighbourhood were singing.

 

[F2point8]

With the story unfolding, I was both happy for those who made it and sad for the ones that didn't....

Thanks to all the guys (and ladies) for the extra efforts in preserving lifes of the vulnerable... I am sure your effort/kindness would be rewarded in another way...

Ray

 

[galee]

Kudos bro... thank Lord that they are saved...

When would be the appropriate time to let them go? and do they know how to take flight now?

 

[Yih Yeong]

Now on to Release (Part 1)

The 2 juvenile BTBEs from rescue one were also brought to the site:

They seemed very curious about the surrounding not knowing that they will be released soon. We took them out of the cage and one of them quickly flew off.

Before that, of course, we also allow some limited photography time for ourselves and the workers (who were all very enthusiastic about the birds.) They said it is a good deed and seems proud that they get to witness and was part of the whole event.

In another 10 mins or so, the second BTBE flew off, after perching on our fingers for some time. It was their first time flying, and we observed that they seems to be flying slightly off a straight course, undulating up and down slightly. Just hopped off and they know how to fly... Amazing!

Presenting "Maiden Flight of a Juvenile BTBE" from the hands of 2 nature lovers!

 

[ajkda]

glad that at least the chicks still manage to flew off and had a small chance of survival
all the best to the birdies =)

 

[limmick]

With the story unfolding, I was both happy for those who made it and sad for the ones that didn't....

Thanks to all the guys (and ladies) for the extra efforts in preserving lifes of the vulnerable... I am sure your effort/kindness would be rewarded in another way...

Ray

Thanks Raymond... We all try to do our liittle part and hope that every little bit counts and our next generations can also get to enjoy nature like we do...

Kudos bro... thank Lord that they are saved...

When would be the appropriate time to let them go? and do they know how to take flight now?

Hi galee, guess "Release 1" above answers your query - they usually spread and flap their wings in preparation for flight a couple of days before... to strengthen their flight muscles and practise I guess! :bsmilie:

glad that at least the chicks still manage to flew off and had a small chance of survival
all the best to the birdies =)

Yep ajkda, best of luck to the birdies in the wild...

 

[F2point8]

Hi Micky,
Nice meeting you at long last! Seen your posts upteem times and spoken on the phone couple of times, and nothing beats meeting you in person.

All the best in your coming trip!
Ray

 

[mindfulness]

Thank you TS for the heartwarming attempts to save the birds :thumbsup:

 

[limmick]

Hi Micky,
Nice meeting you at long last! Seen your posts upteem times and spoken on the phone couple of times, and nothing beats meeting you in person.

All the best in your coming trip!
Ray

Thanks Raymond, very nice to finally meet you in person too !

Thank you TS for the heartwarming attempts to save the birds :thumbsup:

Thanks mindfulness - from the "team"...

 

[limmick]

Before we move on to the next Scene - I'll like to share a couple of thoughts and feelings we had on that eventful day...

That day was a truly emotion-packed day for all of us present - saving 4 live chicks but yet finding 2 dead ones... and also releasing 2 others back into the wild - hopefully giving them a 2nd chance at survival... happiness and high all mixed up with sadness and regret - especially for the parent BTBEs who were still flying around the area...
For me personally, the decision to dig the last nest - Nest 4, was a really tough and agonising choice - and we had many conflicting thoughts and emotions when we were deliberating the issue...
(Note: Nest 2 was different in that it had been affected by the construction work already and the chicks had been starving - so it was a relatively straightforward decision to dig...)
but for Nest 4 which the parents were observed to be still feeding the chicks less than 30 mins prior... this was still an active nest !
and every day in the nest meant a better chance of survival for the chicks... so the question to ponder over was - "Did we do the right thing to dig them out? Or should we have left them till another day or so?"
The advice by the foreman to also dig them up - as the construction plan was to excavate the area at Nest 4 the very next morning, swung the decision for us that fateful day...

I'm glad to report that it was probably the "right" decision as when I passed the site early the next morning, the area around Nest 4 had already been excavated with the ground all torn up... if we had left them the day before, they would probably have died when the excavation work was carried out...