My Neighbour : White breasted waterhen family

My Neighbor : The White breasted waterhen family

Everyday I get up from bed at early morning with loud bird vocal. Sometimes they call very loudly at night. There is a piece of barren land beside my home. That's full of water hyacinth, aquatic weeds, grasses and other bushy herbs. A waterhen pair made their nest in the place. Now they are blessed with four Black Diamond chicks. 

 The Black Diamond baby: White breasted waterhen

When the chicks come out from the nest and follow their mother to find food, its a beautiful scenario to look. The mother wandering forward and the babies follow her. The mother in search of food and the babies learn how to find food.

White breasted waterhen with chicks

Medium-sized, fairly common chickenlike marsh bird found in meadows, ditches, riversides, marshes, as well as parks and farmlands in close proximity to humans; often seen foraging in the open. Adults are dark slaty above and white below, with a rusty patch under the tail. Juvenile similar but duller in color. Remarkably variable song is a series of hooting, grunting, or rasping notes or phrases, repeated monotonously, often from an exposed perch.

The Adult: White breasted waterhen

These birds are usually seen singly or in pairs as they forage slowly along the edge of a waterbody mainly on the ground but sometimes clambering up low vegetation. The tail is held up and jerked as they walk. The nesting season is mainly June to October but varies locally. They nest in a dry location on the ground in marsh vegetation, laying 6-7 eggs.  Courtship involves bowing, billing and nibbling. The eggs hatch in about 19 days.

The video showing their Habitat and Behavior

Interesting myth: At breeding season the white breasted weaver call continuously and bleeding started from its throat. When the blood drops on the egg then it hatched.

     

How to Make this Amazing Nest- Baya weaver

How to Make this Amazing Nest - Baya weaver

At my childhood huge number of hanging bird nests were found at the countryside of Bangladesh. These nests were found mainly on palm tree or coconut tree. This is the best Architectural example of the bird nest and the Baya weaver is the best Architect in Nature. I think this is the strongest bird nest around us. 

Baya weaver collecting coconut leaf strand for nest making.

The Baya weaver nest will catch your maximum attention if you study. Baya weaver nests are exclusively built by the males and then displayed to the females. Recently I spent some time to study the type and stage of the nest, the weaving process of the nest by the birds and now I realize those moments were really worthy. It was really an excellent experience to observe the phases of the nest. The male bird make the nest up to the Helmet phase and then attract the females with chwit--chwit song and dancing as an acrobat of Olympic games.

The male singing and attracting the female

The visiting females get attracted with the song and acrobatic display of the male. Then the visiting female inspect the nest and test its strength, safety and convenience for her egg laying and hatching. The female doesn't take part in nest making but helps in finalize the nest and gives the finishing touch. Females mainly work on interior decoration of the nest.

Busy with building his nest

They make new nests every year to avoid parasite attack. Sometimes they use old nests due to scarcity of nesting materials. They prefer palm tree for for nesting due to tree height and dome shaped structures protect the nest from rains and extreme sunlight. Both male and female take part in incubation and baby caring. 

Amazing nest making video: Baya Weaver

I wish all the birds around us be fine and fly in the sky with joy and happiness. If the birds stay fine we will also the same.