Another Baby Flies Away

16 Jan 2017 

Since the immature baby fell out of the nest hole and died, the parents have continued to feed the babies in the nest. Their piping and chirping has been increasingly loud, and today another baby has left the nest hole. This one is big enough to fly.

As we’ve covered all the big main windows, it’s flown up to the high clerestory windows, at the far end of the house from the nest (just below where the parents often enter and exit the house).

It’s been sitting there, piping plaintively, for a few hours; at times, moving to a different spot, but ending back up there, on the bottom frame of the windows. It’s kept up the piping call most of the time, echoed by a sibling from the nest hole.

Video: baby "piping" & echo

The parents are still flying in with food for the babies in the nest hole, and at times they try to encourage the baby with the offer of food and with melodious trilling calls.

Video: parent with food in beak., "trilling" at baby

At one stage, a parent bird perched above me and "chirred" at me (or was it just warning/looking for the stray baby, who had gone silent and was out of sight?).

Video: parent Pardalote "chirring" 

…….....................................................................

A little later, as I was filming the baby calling, a parent flew in just above it with some food in its beak and sat on the top of the window frame, chirruping at the baby. It flew down and fed the baby, then went back outside for more food.

Video: parent flies down, feeds baby, flies off

It seemed that if the baby was up high, it could get fed, but if on the ground, as the previous one, it was ‘out of reach’. What a shame my improvised ‘nest box’ hadn’t worked with the other one.

As I was writing this up, I heard an urgent “phe-WHIT! phe-WHIT!” at the window, and there were 2 birds perched at the top of the window frame. I grabbed my camera but only recorded a second before my battery died.

Video (very brief) - excited call, 2 birds up top 

Somehow the baby had got the message to fly up to the top…. Next thing, they were both outside. Then one was flapping back at the window from outside.

The parent called again, and the little one flew off.

I had been too slow to get my camera on to video, so I went outside and taped the calls of the parent going “PHE-ew!”, another Pardalote calling and some chirruping. I could see at least 3 birds flitting amongst the leaves, but none stayed close enough or clear enough for a photo.

Video - Pardalote calls outside

Now the only ‘piping’ call was from the nest hole inside – at least 2 more babies there.

Video - still more babies "piping' in the nest hole 

Outside, there’s the occasional “phe-WHIT!”, so it sounds as if the baby may be getting a few lessons, and the feeding visits inside have slowed down a bit.

One didn’t make it.

15 Jan 2017

The week after we had 3 babies fly the nest and go outside, I was vacuuming near the big windows in the lunge room and found a little body under the TV stand – evidently one of the babies had not made it. 

It looked the same level of maturity as the others, but it may have flown out of the nest before we noticed it. It must have crashed into the then-uncovered bit of window and sustained fatal injuries.

I was glad I’d covered up the remaining section of window, but sad that I hadn’t realised what a trap it could be.

I’m amazed that even after the 4 fully-grown fledglings left the nest, there were still more babies chirping inside the hole. The mother must have laid more fertilised eggs and hatched them while the others were still growing. What a change from one baby at a time - no wonder they have been so busy constantly feeding their young

Baby Falls Out of Nest – Chapter 5.

Can’t get Baby back.

It seemed that the stray baby Pardalote was going to starve unless it was in the actual nest hole. I thought of getting a ladder and putting the baby back in the hole, but was concerned that it would just get back out again, and also that the parents may abandon the nest altogether if I was so close to it.

However, I couldn’t just let it starve, and the parents were used to us being below the nest, so I thought I’d try to raise the baby up near the nest to see if it would go in by itself.

I hooked a basket onto a long pole, put on some grass and the baby bird, and raised it up high so that it was next to the nest, thinking the baby may climb out into the nest hole. 
I couldn’t see what was happening in the basket, but when my arms got tired, I lowered the basket and there was the baby clinging to the bottom.

I tried putting the baby back on the heater, but it was still frantically jumping up, seemingly trying to get to the nest, so I figured I should try again to give it a chance.

I made a ‘cradle’ out of a plastic milk bottle, with an opening at the neck end to fit the nest hole. 

I hooked it onto my long stick, added some grass so Baby wouldn’t slip around, and put the baby bird in. I hoisted it up so it was right against the nest hole and level for easy access. I could see the baby silhouetted inside. 

Once again, Baby didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to hop back into the nest hole. It just crept to the back of the container and huddled there. 

Admitting defeat, I put it back on the heater in its little grass ‘nest’ and left it for a while.
When I returned, the parents were still feeding the others, and the stray was back on the floor.
It had crawled into the first box I had placed near the blinds, so I added a soft napkin and some grass to the box, left the little container of meat (with a little water as well) along with a little dead moth I found, then covered the box and left it for the night.

In the morning, I found the baby bird stretched out, dead, next to the box. The meat and the moth were untouched.

It was sad, but nature is harsh at times, and I felt I couldn’t have done any more to try to help. Greg buried the little bird, and the parents continue to feed the other babies in the nest hole as before.

Baby Falls Out of Nest – Chapter 4.

It’s a long way up to the nest…

Pardalotes usually nest in earth banks close to the ground, so I thought if I made a ‘hill’ for the baby to go up, it may be able to get high enough for the parents to feed it. I arranged carpet mats sloping up to the top of the heater.

The baby was not interested, so I put it on top of the ‘hill’ so the parents could reach it.

It was still a looong way from the nest hole. I made a little ‘nest’ of dried grass and looked in the garden and around the house for any dead bugs I could feed the baby. 


At this time of year, we get lots of moths inside; I usually catch several big ones each evening with a net and put them outside so they don’t wake us up at night fluttering noisily at the windows trying to get out. 

However, I could find nothing, so in desperation I finely chopped up a little raw pork and offered it to the baby bird. It ignored the offering, even when I touched the meat to its beak – I obviously didn’t have the right feeding signals. 

The parents kept feeding the other babies, and the baby was frantic, piteously calling. 

Video

Our stray baby was jumping up frantically, with no hope of getting up to the nest and no chance it seemed of being fed unless it was up in the nest itself.

Video

Baby Falls Out of Nest – Chapter 3.

Next nest box trial.

The baby Pardalote had fallen from the tissue box ‘nest box’ and was now back on 
the floor.

The parents retreated to the ledge high above the clerestory windows and were watching silently, unable to get the little almost-fledgling to fly back up to the nest hole with its immature wings.

They brought in food for the other babies, but the stray was missing out.

I figured the hole in the box was too low, so blocked up the bottom half with some cardboard and tried again.

The parents continued to show interest in the box (I had cut a hole in the top this time so they could see inside).

However, they kept on feeding the other babies in the nest hole, so I left them alone for a bit to see if they would respond to the stray calling from the nest box.

When I returned, the baby had climbed out again and was back on the floor.

The parents were hovering around again, concerned about the fallen baby, but perching on the small table and not going down to the baby on the floor.        

Baby Falls Out of Nest - Chapter 2.

Substitute nest box trial.


When the baby Pardalote was calling from the floor, the parents seemed concerned, perching on the heater flue and looking down at it, but not able to help. They were still feeding the others in the nest, but the baby on the floor was going hungry.

I couldn’t leave it there, but couldn’t put it back in the nest, either: it was too high to reach without getting a ladder, the baby may just fall out again, and also if I interfered with the nest I was worried that the parents may abandon it altogether, despite being used to our presence nearby.


I decided to try making a substitute ‘nest’ to place within easy reach for the parents. I emptied a tissue box, made a couple of wire hooks to hang it with, and put some dried grass inside.

I carefully picked up the baby bird and placed in in the nest ‘hole’ in the box.

I climbed onto a small table and reached as high as I could to hook the nest box onto the heater flue nest to the real nest hole.

The parents were dubious to start with, but became bolder and perched on the flue above the new thing in their ‘nest area’. One came in with a moth in its beak for the babies, but sat on the flue looking around.

Video Clip 1

It eventually swallowed the moth itself; you can see the fuzz around its beak.

The piping cries from the baby in the box confused the parents, and they flapped around the box, making an insistent “cheow” noise, but didn’t go in.

Video Clip 

They seemed aware of the baby in the box, but kept feeding the others in the nest and the stray was still missing out. It was piping piteously in the box, jumping vigorously, while the parent “chirred” at it.

Video Clip  2

Eventually the baby climbed out of the box and fell down onto the TV cabinet. Both parents came flying down but were unable to help it.

Video Clip 3

Baby Falls Out of Nest - Chapter 1

I was going to write this story as one post, but it's a bit too long and is taking me ages to process all the photos and video clips and write up, so I'll break it into chapters and post them as I get them done. 

Note- the photos and videos vary in quality, depending on which camera I was using, the light available and how far away from the subject I was (the nest hole itself is way out of reach, so I tried 3 different cameras for sound quality as well as pictures... then of course ran out of battery on some).
You can click on the photos to view in larger size, or on the video links to see the video on YouTube.

Tuesday 10 Jan 2017

Chapter 1.  Little Baby on the Floor

After the 3 babies left the nest successfully on 6 Jan, there was still a lot of noise from the nest. There were obviously at least 2 (probably more) babies still in the hole. No wonder the first 3 were keen to leave, it must have been dreadfully crowded in there, considering the nest is in a wall which is only 1 mud brick deep - about 9'/23cm.

We waited for more babies to emerge, but nothing happened. The parents kept feeding the remaining babies constantly, accompanied by the chirping and a high-pitched, rapid piping. 

Yesterday, Greg noticed a baby on the floor near the window below the nest. When I checked, it was still quite immature, with its body feathers not yet grown and its wings still too small to fly. 

I put an empty box behind it to keep the vertical blinds away from it (worried that it might become entangled, and to give it a place to hide). 

When it recovered a little, it crawled out and sat looking up towards the nest, making the piping noise that we've been hearing from this batch of babies.

Little Baby Calling - video