The St Andrew's Blue-Throated Bee-Eaters

[Morphis]

:thumbsup:
Well done! Good job.

 

[mindfulness]

hurray to civic mindedness! well-done everyone for saving the birds' lives :thumbsup:

 

[limmick]

:thumbsup:
Well done! Good job.

hurray to civic mindedness! well-done everyone for saving the birds' lives :thumbsup:

Thanks Morphis and mindfulness - from the "team"...

 

[Onslaught]

Thank you so much for saving the young birds and giving them a chance to see the blue sky.

 

[nemo]

Good job Guys :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[tabako]

Thanks for saving the birds and documented their parent's love story. Too bad the children dunno how to watch the documentary.

 

[dOlBy]

No words can describe.....:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[simpleliving]

this is an wonderful documentary....
loving it....:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[hlw8888]

very nice series of pics.

thumbs up for the effort u all guys/women put in to rescue the birds. :thumbsup:

 

[cancan7]

A really gripping story, I'm glad that most of the birds were saved! Well done!!

 

[limmick]

Thanks Onslaught, nemo, tabako, dOlBy, simpleliving, hlw8888, cancan7 - for all your support and kind words! ... from the "team"

It was really a great team effort ! :thumbsup:

 

[limmick]

Now for the "extremely CUTE" Scene...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SCENE NINE (9): The 'KIDDOs' - Chicks of the BTBEs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And so that was how I became foster daddy to 4 small BTBE chicks...

The BTBE Huddle !

The 4 BTBE chicks huddling against one another just after being fed in the morning... so they're less active and somewhat sleepy already - note the half-closed and fully-closed eyes...
By chance, they've also nicely arranged themselves by size ! Smallest (but quite aggressive and a bully at times!) on extreme left (showing off his bare bottom!), followed by the 2 meduim-sized chicks and the largest (with some greenish colouring already showing) chick at extreme right.

Smallest (at left):........ ~ 8.5 cm
Medium (2 at middle):... ~ 9.5 cm
Largest (at right):........ ~ 11.5 cm

This was the day after they were "rescued" - 10 June 2009

After another day - on 11 June 2009, the smallest chick has just grown in size to nearly match the 'medium' sized chicks !
So now there is one clear larger chick and 3 other smaller (quite similar) sized chicks. They really do eat a lot and grow significantly (visible changes) daily ! Noticeable feather and colour changes (note that even the smallest chick now has a visible blue stripe down his back which was not evident the day before) as well as in size - on average they grew about 0.5cm daily for the first week...

PS. And ya - I already gotten feedback that I shouldn't have used a fiery RED pail as their "nest"... it was a "convenient", readily available plastic washing basin ! I should've gone out to buy a green one instead ! haha... :kok:

 

[J2meePok]

A great effort for saving the birds..:thumbsup: nice series and coverage.. almost cried.. when seen the poor n helpless baby bird!:lovegrin:

 

[ed9119]

great job to the rescuers and new daddy!!

How are they feeding?

 

[limmick]

A great effort for saving the birds..:thumbsup: nice series and coverage.. almost cried.. when seen the poor n helpless baby bird!:lovegrin:

great job to the rescuers and new daddy!!

How are they feeding?

Thanks for the support and encouragement ! from the "team"... they are feeding well and seem healthy... but... may have slight problem... wait for next scene...

 

[limmick]

Another day had passed (12 June 2009) and the blue stripe down their (the other 3 smaller chicks) backs are much more obvious... and again, approx 0.5cm growth each

Some videos of the morning "ritual" - feeding and bathing !

1) www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPNT2GvNrgE& feature=channel_page
2) www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv0xubK0DMA& feature=channel_page
3) www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_OCrOzhXf0& feature=channel_page
4) www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxAaYTUfZ5s& feature=channel_page

The BTBE huddle again...

Largest:.. ~ 12.5 cm (grown 0.5 cm / day) at extreme right
Rest:...... ~ 10.5 cm (grown 0.5 cm / day)

The largest chick has really added a lot more colour and now has small little green and blue feathers all over. He's becoming a really handsome bird !!! :lovegrin:

Pellets...

The pellets (mass of undigested parts of a bird's food, usually the indigested parts of prey that is regurgitated) that had been collected in the morning from their "nest" from the day before... their "nest" is the red plastic washing tub ! in which I had placed them, covered with camo net plus green towel to darken the environment for them as they are used to being in a hole underground without (much?) light...

 

[Kinox]

Kudos to Micky, Jason, Yih Yeong, Jonathan, Johnny, Dominator, your partners and the construction workers for all your efforts to save the chicks!

Your informed decisions and careful actions demonstrated your genuine compassion to other living beings. It serves as a guide and inspiration to the rest of us too. Thanks for this precious lesson.

Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu!

 

[Yih Yeong]

Many thanks to Kinox for your support and encouraging words.

Especially when you sign up to CS just to read this BTBE story!

 

[Mentawai]

You guys are awesome!
Beyond Nature Photography.... :thumbsup:

 

[Pearlang]

Micky, proud daddy to those handsome chicks, your little darlings are really cute! :heart::heart::heart: