Tears of joy
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| Tears of joy - Mrs & Mr Universe / Best Parents / The Bold and The Beautiful |
Am choking with tears as I pen these thoughts….I know that ‘this too shall pass’, but wanted to at least register to myself this blessed moment.
Also, I know the trope of our ‘anthropomorphic’ lens of looking at the lives of these birds and so painting layers that possibly don’t exist. But then there is no other way to look at it!
New Neighbors
Out of the
blue…..this beautiful couple decided to move-in and bless our lives by building
their nest on the Banana plant. And what followed over the next few days has
been a traumatic, joyful and very lively life for our family.
Also – forced us
to look hard at ‘what is life’ and the way we are getting on with it.
New Arrivals
We watched the Mom brooding the three eggs right through the first
week. We were picking up the tunes / ways of our new neighbors by now.
And then on fine
day there were 3 fresh arrivals. From that day on both parents were super busy fetching
seeds, fruits, insects and what-not to keep the ever hungry tiny-tots satiated.
Through the first week we watched the babies slowly grow in size, gain feathers and become more demanding for food as soon as one of the parents arrives.
While the Mom fed the chicks - it was an absolute pleasure seeing the overjoyed Dad just flying all around, above, below the nest and doing good surveillance while making pleasant cooing noises. This will remain the perfect picture of 'true happiness' for me !
Terror Strikes
One of these happy days almost ended and as we sat down for dinner - there was a sudden commotion near the banana plant and we realized the local rogue, neighbors cat, had jumped at the nest. By the time we rushed out and scared the cat away - it was already fleeing with two of the chicks in its mouth. We chased and made the cat drop them - but by then it was too late for the two.
There was a complete disarray around the nest, the banana leaves protecting it, the few shrubs etc we placed around to protect it from the cat. It had ripped through these by jumping very high and coming down on the nest.
It was already quite dark and both parents were nowhere to be seen.....the third chick inside the nest appeared dead - and we were inconsolable that night at the plight of such a happy family.
A whole new day
The crack of dawn had seen our own family in a very distressed state at the meaninglessness of life and the devastating tragedy we had witnessed the last night.
It was with such heavy hearts that we saw the mother bird come and check the remains in the nest.....it was a very depressing sight. After some time we saw that the Mom and Dad were back to their duty of fetching food for the nest ! And then we saw that the third chick was alive and well. It was a huge relief and we thanked God for this !
It had been raining right through the night - and the chick had survived the cold night all alone. The zeal the parents were now putting into feeding the chick, drove us also into action and we did our bit in thoroughly fortifying the nest / banana tree with thorns and such so as to ensure the cat wouldn't mess around again.
Regardless
of the odds, when it is time you 'Wing it'
Over the next 4 days we saw the parents totally dedicated in feeding the kid right through. It was a great illustration for all of us about the love, affection and sacrifices that parents make ! We were also on our guard and kept watch right through, shooing the cat away whenever it came lurking around - no doubt scheming its own dark designs.
The parents
were relentless in prodding the kid to take flight…..
Finally on the fifth attempt, the kid winged 4-5 short flights and reached our neighbor’s backyard. The cat was
prowling around – and the parents were both perched on that side possibly distracting the cat with their sounds.
But then the kid stopped moving, possibly
tired, and was just a meter away from the cat behind a shoe rack. The parents were monitoring
the cat as well as the kid as can be seen in below video - but it was too risk as it would take a split-second for the cat to pounce on the chick if it senses it.
Despite both the parents squeaking and making sorties over me - I picked up and returned the kid to the nest and came into the house (for a window-view of the nest). The parents already zeroed in on the kid and started cuddling + feeding it right away. The parents now were focused on getting the kid all the energy it needed by feeding it on a war footing....
And then towards afternoon the parents prodded the kid for more sally to taking flight.....and this time the kid did keep trying and went quite far away in its short flights. The parents were busy following it and also kept coming back to the cat to keep it distracted and move in some other direction. But then it started raining.....and then heavily and we lost contact with the family as it moved on.
Big lesson - life is fraught with risks. But when it is time, go for it 100% and give it all you have. Half measures wont do at all.
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Meow
Splintered
moment
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Bird calls
Peal of life
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Nest
is just a phase of life
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The cat meows
and terror runs through my body as I involuntarily brace up to rush
out……only to then realize that ‘all is well’, the birds are gone and safe…Thank
goodness!
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Morning starts with the squeaks
of bird calls filtering into the house – and amongst them as I hear the peal of a Bulbul’s call - I rush out to catch a glimpse of the Angel.
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The bare
nest has been staring at us since the family has moved on. Makes one
think - this must be the meaning of 'Vanaprastha' as well. As our kids take
wing, and our nest has served its purpose: no point hanging on to it. We possibly
also need to move on into something more convenient, that serves the purpose.`
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