UPDATE - Nest of Chestnut-Faced Babblers

[Ramon Quisumbing]

UPDATE 5/6/12

In the morning of 5/5/12, I went up Mt. Banahaw to check on the Chestnut-Faced Babbler nest. I was happy to find that the 3 nestlings had fledged and left the nest (although I was a bit disappointed that I could not photograph them in their later stage of growth). Three more CFBs added to the population.

We retrieved the nest and photographed it for record purposes. The deep cup nest was very well built in a "V" of branches and incorporated the branches themselves so that the nest cannot fall down.




This photo shows that a long spiderweb material was wrapped several times around a leaf stem to stabilize the nest. Good engineering!


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ORIGINAL POSTING

On April 28, Chris, my caretaker at BK Valley, availed of our nest reporting/bonus program and reported to me a nest of Chestnut-Faced Babblers (Stachyris whiteheadi whiteheadi) at Stage 1 of our ATV trail up Mt. Banahaw at 3,000 feet above sea level. I excitedly went up to photograph what may be the first record of a nest of the very elusive CFB (the KG makes no mention of any CFB nest). Fortunately, I was able to find a good vantage point level with the nest and only 10 meters away.

The nest is a deep, tightly-woven cup of grasses, moss and spider webs, similar to the nest of a Citrine Canary Flycatcher. It was only 10 feet up a young mango tree.

Canon 1D Mark IV camera, 800 mm lens, tripod.


F/5.6, ISO-250, 1/80 second, manual exposure.

This may be my clearest and closest photo of a CFB, which usually are very difficult to photograph as they are small and constantly jumping around.

F/5.6, ISO-250, 1/80 second, manual exposure.


F/5.6, ISO-250, 1/125 second, manual exposure.


F/5.6, ISO-250, 1/125 second, manual exposure.


F/5.6, ISO-250, 1/125 second, manual exposure.


F/5.6, ISO-250, 1/125 second, manual exposure.


F/5.6, ISO-250, 1/125 second, manual exposure.

The CFB has brought back what looks like a green cricket.

F/5.6, ISO-250, 1/125 second, manual exposure.

Incredibly, the first nestling swallows the big cricket whole!

F/5.6, ISO-250, 1/125 second, manual exposure.

Having swallowed the entire cricket, the nestling looks out at the strange, new world with a smile on its face. How funny-looking it is!

F/5.6, ISO-250, 1/100 second, manual exposure.

[Michael R. Anton]

Cool set, Ramon!;-)

[des]

More great discoveries! How does it compare with the nests of White-eyes? These Tree-babblers have recently been found by DNA studies to be most closely related to White-eyes

[Ely Teehankee]

The nest is built in such a way that it is protected by the intense heat of direct sunlight. Asides from that there are also leaves that hovers part of the nest to add more covers. To think that the bird never had any formal schooling and can design, build, lay eggs, and hatch them is a revelation that there is a God who created them just like us. The second picture is the best picture anyone can take to see and identify that it is a Chestnut-faced Babbler. Well done Ramon & Mabuhay.

[Carmela Balcazar]

The nest seems to be built hanging on a fork rather than on it. The parents also do not fly far and were observed to be breaking dried stalks of grass. We could not tell if it was for more nesting material or they were looking for insects.

They are most active in feeding early in the morning when caterpillars were easier to find. Caterpillars escape the morning sun by burrowing into the leaves. Another reason to go organic!

Congratulations Ramon! Your custodian scheme has made the locals more aware and appreciative of wildlife.

[Ramon Quisumbing]

May 2, 2012 5:38:18 GMT des said:

More great discoveries! How does it compare with the nests of White-eyes? These Tree-babblers have recently been found by DNA studies to be most closely related to White-eyes

Thanks, Des. We have yet to find any nest of White-Eyes, even though Yellowish and Mountain WEs are plentiful in BK Valley and Mt. Banahaw. We will be on the lookout for them.

It comes as no surprise to me that Chestnut-Faced Babblers are closely related to White-Eyes. The first time I saw a CFB, I thought it was a different species of WE, because of the distinctive white eye-ring.

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Thanks for the comments, Michael and Ely.

[Ramon Quisumbing]

May 2, 2012 7:58:32 GMT Carmela Balcazar said:

The nest seems to be built hanging on a fork rather than on it. The parents also do not fly far and were observed to be breaking dried stalks of grass. We could not tell if it was for more nesting material or they were looking for insects.

They are most active in feeding early in the morning when caterpillars were easier to find. Caterpillars escape the morning sun by burrowing into the leaves. Another reason to go organic!

Congratulations Ramon! Your custodian scheme has made the locals more aware and appreciative of wildlife.

Thanks for the kind words, Mela. It sounds like you visited the CFB nest. Did you make the hike up?

[Mark Itol]

Another great discovery, Ramon. I am sure this will provide new useful information about these beautiful birds. Great job. Thanks for sharing.

[tina mallari]

Wonderful captures :-)

[Carmela Balcazar]

It sounds like you visited the CFB nest. Did you make the hike up?

Yes I did Ramon. I remember the trail as I had passed there before but from the opposite direction heading down. There is a farmer's house higher up that when a wave of birds would arrive, they were all eye-level. Keep a lookout for the Ashy Ground Thrush. We've spotted 1 in that vicinity too.

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Thanks, Mark, Tina and Mela.

Mela, That would be great to see the Ashy Ground-Thrush in Mt. Banahaw.

[Carmela Balcazar]

That would be great to see the Ashy Ground-Thrush in Mt. Banahaw.

Even better if documented by the resident Wild Bird Photographer.

[Burr Patterson, Jr.]

I had six children with mouths like that!!

Great shots, Thanks

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Burr, LOL, thanks.

[Lydia Robledo]

Beautiful treasures. BK Valley is a beautiful, rich place. Ramon, maybe we need to find out from the experts about the post nesting habits of the birds. It may be possible that nests are used more than once or other birds borrow it... just so we are sure that after the nest is emptied, it is ok to handle the nests. lyd

[Tateo Osawa]

Nice documentary shot Ramon. Congratulations.

[Ramon Quisumbing]

May 8, 2012 11:10:35 GMT Lydia Robledo said:

Beautiful treasures. BK Valley is a beautiful, rich place. Ramon, maybe we need to find out from the experts about the post nesting habits of the birds. It may be possible that nests are used more than once or other birds borrow it... just so we are sure that after the nest is emptied, it is ok to handle the nests. lyd

Lyds, I only get the first nest for record purposes. I don't need to get subsequent nests.

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Thanks, Tateo.

[Tonji Ramos]

Learned a lot from this set. Thanks Ramon.