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Thread: Feeding behaviour of young Blue-throated Barbet (Megalaima asiatica) by their parents

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    21-08-13
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    Majdia, Madanpur, Nadia, West Bengal
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    Default Feeding behaviour of young Blue-throated Barbet (Megalaima asiatica) by their parents

    I was lucky to witness some moments of the feeding of a pair of young Blue-throated Barbet by their parents in front of our house.But I could not see their nest building patters, incubation etc due to my very busy daily work schedules. I observed their feeding trips in a somewhat haphazard manner on two different days. Now I am presenting some pictures sequentially; along with that I would like to share with everyone some of my observations regarding their feeding behaviors. The nest was constructed by digging a hole in a coconut tree trunk.

    1. Although the BTBs are mainly frugivorous the parents insist on feeding their babies healthy amounts of different types of Insects on regular basis.

    2. They strictly maintain a gap of about 10 to 12 minutes in between two consecutive feeding trips.

    3. On my first day's observations I found that they feed their babies different insects on two to three successive trips and in the next trip they feed fruits and this cycle continued throughout the day.

    4. On the next day I found that they are feeding two trips of Insects followed by two trips of fruits.

    5. The Insects they feed consisted of beetles, fly, robber fly, dragon fly, larvae and spiders. And the Fruits included different berries, flesh of lichi, ripe papaya, banyan fruits etc.

    6. Both of the parents are feeding their babies in terms.

    7. Their not only feeding their babies, they are at times entering the nest without any food and attending their child.

    8. Most of the time they are found to chew the solid food turning it to a semi-fluid pulp suitable for the young babies.

    9. They clean up the nest at least thrice a day and dispose of the garbage carrying it in their mouth at least 20 metres away from the nest.

    10. The young birds can emit high pitched but feeble sounds within three days after hatching.

    In this picture, the barbet is seen holding a dragonfly in its beak.
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