Crested Treeswift - Part 1
Crested Treeswift - Part 1
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Its always enchanting to see the swifts swaying in the sky, wonder where they get the energy and when they actually do rest. Wandering thoughts of mine unknowingly start relating them to the hustle and bustle of the modern life.
I got the first glimpse of a crested treeswift while waiting for the male hornbill to return to the nest, the swift perched high on a tree and he looked beautiful. Little did I know, I was up for what would be a thrilling and equally emotional quest to watch them build a sweet home and bring up a beautiful life to sway freely in the sky.
A fellow birder showed me a tree swift nest, perched was a handsome male focusing final touches to the nest. Many visits followed to watch the nest taking shape.
Both male and female took turns to incubate the egg, at time interval of approx. 20 minutes. The way they would make the transition was just spectacular.
A short video on how they coordinated while changing the duties. https://youtu.be/ReWxDpiHW1Y
The female gives a call, the male reciprocates.
On ensuring the male is perched well the female flies away.
The male adjusts himself well over the nest.
The calls are exchanged one more time to mark the successful change of duty.
One day, we saw a Shikra landing on the same tree as the nest, no intentions to do any harm as it flew away immediately. Its momentary presence left the couple in a fright. The pair circled over the nest for next 15 minutes, calling out loud, perching only after ensuring everything was safe. The female returned to the nest, while the male perched on the tree nearby.
Fear in the air and feeling of solicitude took over me.
On our next visit we did not find the pair incubating the egg, on closer observation could not see the egg as well, worried we waited for about an hour with a hope for the couple to return.
Search began on all the trees they used to perch on when not on the nesting duty. All in vain.
The pair had abandoned the nest. It was very painful to see the abandoned nest. That's life, the more you observe nature the more you understand it better.
I realized, how much I had got emotionally attached to the pair and the journey they where onto.
The nest
The abandon feeling
Lessons Learned
Some observations
The pair always stayed in the vicinity of the nest. The trees they perched on were fixed.
Both were equally involved in building the nest, they were seen collecting tree bark scales in their tiny beaks.
The nest was built using the bark scales and saliva, on the edge of narrow horizontal branch of a leafless tree. Small cup glued to the branch.
The pair never bothered smaller birds perching on the tree. Occasionally a common woodshrike or a drongo too.
During change of duty, the female while flying away calls after leaving the nest and the one guarding the nest reciprocates back. Each and every time. This was not observed with the male leaving the nest.
When the nest was active, a lone female was seen hovering very close to the nest at the time of nest building as well as when they started incubating the egg.
The reason for abandoning the nest is not known, the nest was intact with no visible damage.
Four visits to record these observations. Each visit spanned between 1.30 to 2.30 hours of observation, two or more observers. All observations made in the early morning before 9 AM.
Note: All the observations where made from a long and safe distance without disturbing the bird(s).
Date of journey in between 30th April to 12 May 2022 @Sinhagad Foothills.
Interested to know more about this bird
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Crested Treeswift - Part 2 (Coming Soon)
Crested Treeswift - Part 2 (Coming Soon)
"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" - Aristotle.
"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" - Aristotle.
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