Bird parents can be bossy! The parent Red-vented bulbul pushed the chick!

At some point in our lives, all of us have experienced either an overbearing parent or we had to become overbearing parent ourselves to persuade our child!

Can you imagine that the birds might have similar experience? 

Well, as my parents watched the family of Red-vented bulbuls near the bird bath, this is exactly what they saw. 

The chick was obviously unsure whether the bird bath was a safe place to take a dip. The parent bulbul was promptly there for the chick. He gave a demo of how to bath and a spoke in his language of chirps.  These chirps could have been the parent bulbul re-assuring the chick and encouraging it in the bird language. Despite the parent's effort,  the chick remained hesitant. 

What happened next was surprising: the parent bird flew in and almost pushed the chick into the bird bath! Well, we are not sure how the chick felt at this treatment - but the chick was not ready to be obedient yet!

On the second day, both the parents were eager to show their chick that the bird bath was a safe area.

On the third day, the chick seemed to have understood the need to take a dip - maybe it realized the parents won't give-up until what must be done is done! The chick finally overcame his hesitation and took a bath. 

On the fourth day, the family enjoyed the dip together! It was as though the parents were rejoicing in teaching their chick to take a dip. 

You can see this drama unfold in this video on YouTube! Thank you. 

A glimpse of Kaveri Backwaters

The lush green grass and year around fresh water from Kaveri backwaters provides a good ecosystem for numerous local as well as migratory birds.

This video shot at Kaveri backwaters of Mysore shows some of of the birds that frequent this serene and beautiful place: Little Cormorants, Cattle Egrets, Intermediate Egrets, Large Egrets, Grey Herons, Black-winged stilts, Painted storks, and Spot billed ducks.  (Video best viewed in High resolution)

Fortunately we still have such undisturbed places quite close to the cities, where the only sound we can hear is that of birds and insects. Though a train passes by and a few fishermen are fishing, somehow they seem to merge into the scenary and the birds are unperturbed. This makes me think that maybe we can still find a way to live without causing any disturbance to the wonderful creatures with whom we share this earth.

Note: Keep your speakers on to hear the sounds and choose HD in video settings for best experience.