Ashy Prinia Chicks Move out to the Vulnerabilities of the Open Sky

 The nest was on a flame vine plant. I watched the nest and birds everyday to witness the day of departure of the chicks. You can’t watch it twice. Once an ashy prinia chick leaves the nest it never returns to nestle in it anymore. It is a complete departure.

The mother has never seen the chick flying, or even standing steadily balanced on a branch. The parent birds make a prediction by mere intuition, and it seldom goes wrong. The little bird understands that it is destined for the vast sky.

That day the parent birds do not bring the worms to its nest, it just carries it and keeps calling the chick out. The chick responds. It puts its head out a little more than usual. It places its tiny, soft legs on the rim of the nest and stands up. Then it makes its first hop on to the near by leaf or branch. All these happen accompanied by a lot of noise and flutter of the parent birds. The chick has done its first move to fly out of the nest and it has done it well. The parent birds rush to the chick with a worm as its reward.

From now on for a few days they have to be extremely careful and watchful about predators. The chicks are in the open; and is vulnerable. But the chicks never return back to the nest for its protection because of the predators. It has clearly outgrown the nest.

Ashy Prinia birds chicks and nest free images high resolution
Ashy Prinia chick comes out of the nest

Ashy Prinia birds chicks and nest free images high resolution
Ashy Prinia chicks

Ashy Prinia birds chicks and nest free images high resolution
Ashy Prinia chick comes out of the nest

Ashy Prinia birds chicks and nest free images high resolution
Ashy Prinia parent bird keeps calling the chicks out

Ashy Prinia birds chicks and nest free images high resolution
Ashy Prinia chick

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