Toward the end of last week when I took a peek, the baby bird was downright UGLY. It was transitioning from the skin-and-bones creature pictured in my previous post into something like a porcupine-bird with these little stubs of feathers beginning to grow.
Yesterday though, I caught a glimpse of the baby sitting up in the nest and watching her mom fly back and forth around the nest. The baby is actually really cute now with actual feathers. I grabbed LW's zoom lens and the step stool and tried to take a photo from a distance over by the southwest corner of the house. Even though I wasn't standing anywhere NEAR the nest, both the mamma and the daddy bird seemed to know what I was up to and were NOT happy with me. They took up guard positions on either corner of the roof and berated me with a continual angry string of chirping.
Mamma Bird on the southeast corner watching me "like a hawk." I focused the camera on the bird silhouetted against the white rain gutter in the background. The nest is in the hanging white basket in the foreground.
This was the Daddy Bird that was standing on the southwest corner very close to my head and angrily chirping at me. He sure looks intimidating with his feathers all puffed out like that, doesn't he? I don't know about you, but I'M scared (sarcasm). I'm guessing he's the Daddy because he's got bright red on his fanny to draw the attention of predators and lure them away from the nest. Looking at our Hawaiian birds recognition guide, I think this is a red vented bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer).
When I tried sneaking out the front door to take the picture, the Daddy quickly took up a new position on top of the flagpole to keep an eye on me.Tonight though, I got another glimpse of the baby looking around outside the nest and checking things out. The mamma and daddy birds must have been off fetching dinner, so I managed to get a picture of the baby tonight.
It's the Baby!(with feathers this time)
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Follow up 5/7/08: The baby is gone! There is an egg in the nest now, but no birdy anymore.
I agree with your identification completely. They're actually not very common over there. Since they feed on fruit & nectar - I found this interesting: "The Red-vented Bulbul is incapable of synthesizing vitamin C. It shares this feature with a very limited number of other animals, among which are certain fruit bats and primates (including humans) as well as the guinea pig."
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