Bulbul nest building

Our families have known each other for the last two

decades. They live close by. But we don't understand

their language and they don't understand ours.  Our

food habits are different.  Their children do not attend

any school. They have stolen things from our house.

Now they are trying to encroach on our property and

I am resisting. But we still have a lot of  goodwill between us !

These  bulbuls have always been around us. It is now 

more than twenty years since one of them entered our

kitchen for the first time to steal bananas.  I understand

that their life span is about 11 years. It is possible that

what we see presently are the offsprings of the ones

that started the relationship. 

It began with the birds flying into our kitchen and helping

themselves to the bananas hung in a bunch on a hook

in our kitchen. They were seen in the kitchen window

every morning making a loud noise and they flew in

when we went out of sight and helped themselves to

the bananas. So we always kept a couple of fruits

reserved for them. 

They kept constant company with my mother.  She used

to sit next to the open window reading the whole day.

They flew in and out of the window and amused her

with their antics. 

When the construction of our  house was going on, my

younger son made a request asking us to keep a

permanent opening on top of one of the windows.

He wanted the birds to get in and out of the house as

they pleased. His wish was accommodated and a

circular opening of about a foot in diameter was made

in the kitchen wall. We call it ‘Akshay’s bird window’.

It has not been used by any bird till this day. All of them

use the balcony door or the other windows. But probably

the ‘bird window’ expressed our goodwill towards them

and  they appreciate the goodwill gesture !  

I think that is the reason for our living room being the first

choice for these pair of birds, when they feel the necessity

to build a nest. Soon after the mating season I notice

them flying in and out of our living room carrying bits of

twigs, wire, grass etc etc and attempting to build a nest.

But unfortunately they always choose the most vulnerable

places for their nest.  Like the hook in the ceiling on which

our swing is hung or the back of the wall mounted fan

which is in constant motion the entire  summer. 

I am forced to prevent these attempts but they persist

for a long time before they give up and settle for

another place. This year I have been removing their

building material from the back of our fan every day

for the last ten days and they have not given up yet.

Last year they changed the site after trying  our fan for t

wo weeks. They found a cluster of electric wiring  outside

the ground floor window, used it,  and they were

successful in raising a family. I wish them similar luck

this year too.