Some weeks back, a tiny 'crimson sunbird' had started building a nest. We watched it grow each day. It used a variety of material for the nest which included straws, plastic strips, a broken scale, hay, weeds, plastic twines, nylon waste. At the end of a couple of weeks, there was a beautiful home hanging by a creeper deftly crafted out of material available in abundance. What is even more strange is that these are homes so long as they hatch. Once the tiny bird is ready to fly, they abandon.
Birds differ from us in one fundamental way – they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before – Robert Lynd
There were tiny eggs to start with. The protective female would guard it with all her might. Later, two small crimsons were born. They would wait to be fed. There would be an entire family of Crimson Sunbirds flying in and around the garden.
A Crimson Sunbird (courtesy Wikipedia)These little chirpy creatures are full of energy and elegance. Some of them get so confused looking in the mirror that their animation is enchanting. They would peep into the mirror of the vehicle, then flip over to see where their counterpart is - they can repeat this exercise all day!
One fine morning the nest was empty and shimmering in the gentle breeze without any inhabitant. The birds could now fly, and they were gone. They were not bound by their home - their larger world was waiting to be explored. I still see a couple of them return, but never see them reach out for the nest. It is simply abandoned and I do not have the heart to remove it. The past few days hard rains have lashed the city and I can see the nest slowly withering away. It would not have happened had the birds decided to stay! But then, that is why birds are special and like Kuvempu (Kannada poet, author) says - aniketana, do not build a home!
1 comment:
Beautiful nest :) :)
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