The early bird

While we were the first site owners in our development to break ground two years ago, many of our neighbours have started home construction after us and have moved into their lovely new homes.

Of course at this stage our structure is ready, most of the interior work is done and we are focused on finishing activities inside the home. The decks outside the living areas are partially done and the landscaping work has been started in earnest. It a pleasure to see our home surrounded by plants, many still in their 'grow' bags, with a few already planted in the soil and settling in.

Red vented bulbul

When I had seen the site in 2019, the location next to the forest had been very appealing to me - I was looking forward to a home surrounded by the chirping of birds and visualised loads of colourful butterflies flitting between the plants. During the last two years the din and dust of construction had obviously disturbed the serenity of the area. Now that this stage is largely done and the workers are inside the home, Ive been happy to see the birds return to the site.

This morning was really exciting - a red vented bulbul (pycnonotus cafer) had built a nicely hidden nest in the leaves of a bamboo tree - this had been planted just a couple of weeks

earlier ! Delighted about this upcoming family that had moved into the plot before us I took a gentle peak through the foliage at a clutch of three pale-pinkish eggs with spots of darker red in the nest. The excited mother was perched on the boundary wall nearby and scolded me to keep away !

I found it amusing that while other neighbours had built and moved into their homes faster than us, we now had a bird that had also moved into our plot before we could !

With the birds feeling comfortable moving back after the din and dust of construction, its as if nature is blessing our home ...

...Napping through history

...We have babies