The Baya Weaver colony that has about half a dozen nests built on a Ficus plant growing inside the Malli Baavi has been active over the past few weeks. In the first week of September, the adults were seen bringing in insect food to feed their young (identified by an entomologist-friend as “Orthoptera - probably Acrididae (short-horned grasshoppers)”).
What was interesting to note was that not only the females were bringing in feed for the nestlings but also the male birds! We are often given to understand that the male Baya initiates the breeding activities and starts building a nest and half-way through the nest construction, the females inspect the structure. If approved by the female, the nest is completed by the male with female helping with the interiors and then she lays her eggs. The male then abandons the nest and his mate and builds yet another nest attracting a second mate and so it goes. Salim Ali says on one rare occasion, a male secured five females, one after the other!
It is usually the female who looks after the chicks. The males are occasionally reported to feed their young ones. In this case, I found females and two or three males carrying food in their beaks. The insects were freshly caught from the nearby paddyfield.
Though the weaverbirds are predominantly granivorous birds, often feeding on paddy and other cereals as well as grass seeds, the young birds are fed on diets consisting of insects and arthropods.
I was surprised to see the males taking care of their young and was wondering under what circumstances they feed the young. Could it be that these males did not get opportunities to mate with multiple partners (due to limited resources availablity?) and so they settled down to take of their chicks? Or were these males who did not get an opportunity to mate because of shortage of females or other resources? It is also known that older offsprings of several bird species assist their parents raise young ones and these birds are rewarded with mating opportunities later on.
There are several life history details we are still not aware of even of those common species we encounter so often in our neighbourhood. These are great opportunities for any curious student of natural history who can learn and contribute a lot to our knowledge through careful observations.
- Santharam / 22 September 2022