The Story of Gita, Part Two: A Bird in the Hand

 If you haven't yet, you might want to first read Part One.

Short recap: a bulbul couple laid two eggs in a bush on my terrace, which had hatched.

Shortly after they flew the nest, I saw them fluttering around among the leaves. So checked it out,   and found this:

They had completely destroyed the nest! Which I thought a bit sad. It was such a perfect, beautifully crafted nest. A work of art,  considering it was made entirely with a beak.

And that seemed the absolute end to the story. I didn't see much of the birds after that, though they still came at least once a day for a mango snack, sometimes perched on a window bar, sometimes checking out the layout.

A few weeks after the birth, I noticed increased activitiy.  They were flying back and forth around the flat - which is open plan, with two bedrooms, three doors leading to a terrace and two balconies, and two windows which I opened during the day, for them to fly in and out. It seemed at first sort of a game. 
They'd perch on the window bars... 

...but they particularly liked to perch on the ceiling  fans, where they'd often just sit and chill, or else fly from fan to fan, as if checking out sofas for comfort.

Then one day, I noticed this beneath theceiling fan in the kitchen.

Bits of dried grass. On the left, around 9 am one morning.  On the right, a few  hours later.

Typical tenants, making a mess and not cleaning up afterwards!

 However, looking up, it was unmistakeable what was going on.

They were building a nest!

While delighted that they'd chosen my home, again, to build a nest, I was not as happy as with the terrace nest. Not only that it would not be possible to monitor what was going on in there, but they'd eventually leave behind a mess and I don't have a ladder to get up  there and clean it up. Not to mention not being able to use the fan  for a few weeks -- which doesn't matter, as I have other fans.

But not to worry. This went on for a few days, but then nothing happened. No more  vists to the  fan. Instead, they began showing interest in a second fan, in a bedroom I don't use., flying up there and hopping around, in and out the window etc. Then they stopped that as well.

They still came for snacks. They still flew around outside, still perched on the wires outside the house.

But they seemed to have completely lost interest in the fans, and the nest they had carefully built up there. 

One day around this time, I heard some screeching and when I checked the living room, I saw a small bird trapped inside the window. The glass was closed (it's often open) and the bird was flinging itself opelessly against it. I reaslied that it was a baby bird. And right outside, on the wire in the photo you see above, were both parents, clearly panicking, as they could not help the baby.

I managed to slide back the glass and the chick escaped on to the balcony beyond. However, the balcony has a glass balustrade, and it kept fluttering wildly, trying to fly out through the glass, bumping into it, and falling back onto the floor. It couldn't figure out how to fly up and over the top. 

Meanwhile, the poor parents were frantic, not knowing how to help, and probably more distraught at seeing me there, so close to their pracious little one. They were screeching and flying around, hopping about  in desperation. All three were clearly terrified.

Inside, looking out forlornly.

'Mama! Papa! I'm trapped! Help!'

'There's a monster lady and she's going to eat me up! Help!'

Eventually I decided on tough love. I picked up the bird and lifted it up above the balustrade, and it flew away to join the parents.

For a few seconds, I held her in my hand!

 Then they were all gone.

The interesting thing about this episode is that this baby bird seemed too big  to be  one of the ones which has hatched about two weeks previously. They grow so quickly -- quadrupled in size from birth to a week later. This one was bigger, but not nearly full size. Was it one of the two? If so, where was the other one? Mum and dad were clearly still in charge.

That bird in my hand, was it the original Gita, or Gita's son/daughter, or a new Gita altogether?

This young bird came to my home on July 3rd.

Gita's hatchlings flew the nest on June 14th. This little bird looks older than two weeks, to my very amateur eyes - based only on the growth rate I had noted in Part One.
Those chicks had both obviously flown away, unaided, that day. Surely by now they would know how to fly up more steeply, to cross over the balciony balustrade?

It's a mystery. If you know the answer, please leave a comment below.

I'll have to ask Vinod when I see him next. I'll introduce Vinod in the next episode.
Because the story might seem to have come to its natural end -- but it hasn't.

Part Three: A Bird in the Home