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Thursday, November 09, 2006

Yellow-vented Bulbul: Food for the nestlings

Yellow-vented Bulbul: Food for the nestlings

The Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) is one of the more successful urban birds in Singapore. Part of this success is its ability to adapt to its food source. It is omnivorous, that is, it will eat insects as well as a range of fruits. At the same time it also scavenge on scraps of discarded food. Newly hatched nestlings are fed with insects and other invertebrates. The growing nestlings require a constant supply of protein. This keeps the parents busy bringing such food constantly.

Almost every garden in Singapore will have at least a pair of Yellow-vented Bulbuls. On certain months of the year the loud and somewhat pleasant bubbling songs in the early morning and later evening are music to the ear.

These birds are so used to humans that they will build their nests among ornamental plants grown in gardens or in potted plants placed in balconies or even along the verandahs of high-rise apartment buildings. The nests are deep cups made from grass, dry leaves, etc. Looking untidy from the outside, it is neatly lined inside.


Lena Chow recently sent an image of a pair nesting among her artificial plants (below). Talk about getting used to urban living…

Images of bulbul by Tang Hung Bun; nesting among artificial plant by Lena Chow; input by YC.

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5 Comments:

At 6:57 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just curious, where is the location of the yellow-vented bulbul's nest in this photo? I have never witnessed such daring feat in my life.

Btw, keep up the good work! I've always enjoyed this blog. :)

 
At 9:17 pm, Blogger YC said...

The pot of artificial plant was in Lena's garage. The success of the blog is due to the generosity of people sharing their stories and images.

 
At 7:12 am, Blogger YC said...

Yes, I have read the article. Well, we should not expect gun club members to be aware that shooting migratory birds will not contain bird flu. But we should have confident that our AVA will ensure that this does not happen.

 
At 9:49 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Quite frankly the reality is the "bird flu" scare is not what the media has hyped it up to be, and most people are not intelligent enough to understand the facts and merely buy into what they are fed, shooting migratory birds will not prevent it coming, and quite frankly if I saw someone shooting a bird for any other reasob than food then I would take the gun off him and return the favour, all in the name of preventing the spread of idiocy and stupidity. I could go on and on and show the truth behind the avian flu, but I have to det some work done, but I wopuld encourage people to learn the basic facts and apply some common sense.

 
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