Courtship and nesting behavior of the Brown Headed Barbet | Nikon D5600 and Nikon 200-500mm

Hello everyone!

Today I present to you some parts of courtship and nesting behaviour of a commoner, the Brown Headed Barbet that I observed and photographed. All of this was shot and recorded in the district park near my home in Delhi, India. All of these images were taken from a good distance and no disturbance was caused. I am sharing my experience through photos and a write-up. Please read through and let me know!

Image 2 of the slideshow:

On the 22nd of February, 2020, I went to the park to photograph birds. Looking around to find birds to photograph, I saw a female Brown Headed Barbet that was perched on the neem tree, and I started shooting it. Soon after, the male was seen coming near the female with some feed in his mouth. Shortly after them coming close to each other, I was able to make one of my favourite images of the Brown Headed Barbet, Their mating!

Image 3 to 6 of the slideshow:

After their deed was done hehe, the male fed berries to the female one by one (also known as the Nuptial Gift)

Image 7 of the slideshow:

The male then started jumping towards the thick trunk of the neem tree and started pecking a hole in it.

I was very happy to witness this beautiful behaviour of this bird. Then unfortunately after a few days, birding completely stopped for a couple of months due to the Covid pandemic and I thought that the opportunity of shooting the parent feeding the juvenile was missed.

Image 8 of the slideshow:

After a long long break, I decided to go back to the park and rushed to the same tree and I could see a small Brown Headed Barbet peeking out of the hole! (It’s a juvenile, confirmed by the colour of the iris)

Image 9 of the slideshow:

I photographed it and then patiently waited for the parent to arrive to feed the juvenile.

Image 10 of the slideshow:

After a week, I went back to the park and witnessed the juvenile leaving the nest for the first time!

Finally at the end:

For this visit, we had planned to take our video camera because there were high chances of the juvenile leaving the hole and amazingly, it did and we captured it on video!

So this is how I recorded some parts of the behaviour of this commoner. Thanks for reading and I hope you all liked it!