When things happen, they all seem to happen at once, don’t you think so? That was indeed the case during my recce. Upon retreating from the patch to leave the mating dragonflies in peace, loud chitter-chatter caught my attention. What was going on?? The commotion just a few metres away totally caught me by surprise.
Have a look, and try to keep track of the three Striped Tit Babblers (Macronus gularis) and two Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier)!
It’s one thing to see a Striped Tit Babbler dangling unceremoniously upside-down but another to see that it had 4 spectators – 2 that weren’t even from the same species! It was definitely a o.O moment for me. At first, I thought they were playing, but it seemed more like it was genuinely stuck. After capturing the video, I took a step forward with the intention of seeing how I could help the babbler. However, the movement startled the birds and they all flew off into the patch, including the stuck babbler! I looked, and didn’t see any feathers hanging from the vine so I guess it freed itself unscathed. Moments later, chitter-chatter came from inside the patch. If the birds had been playing, that probably was the bulbul scolding me for spoiling their fun D: Blast, maybe I should’ve filmed them for longer…
Any insights/views/opinions about the behaviour of the birds are welcomed!
Black Dillenia 
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