Yesterday I was sitting in the backyard while the children played on their waterslide, and out of the blue there was a random *thunk.* A bird’s nest fell out of our Japanese maple. And it turned out there had been an egg in it, and it did not survive. Sadness! No commotion of birdspeak, feathers or flying followed the incident, and so perhaps it was just gravity. Or poor planning on the part of the builder? I couldn’t help but wonder about the mama bird who just lost one of her young, and whether she knew it was her fault, or not, and did she lament the fallen nest and egg on the ground. Or maybe it was just an *oops,* or a *damn, that’s inconvenient,* and she moved on to build a new nest and lay the rest of her eggs without lingering. I suppose I’ll never know the answer, but it was still sad, anyway. And I swear I still don’t like birds. Okay, maybe a little bit. Maybe.
7 comments:
I'm so sorry.
I do think that birds are very instinct driven and will just be puzzled.. wasn't there something I was doing, supposed to do... oh well looks like a good day to build a nest.
:( i won't tell you what happened to our hummingbird babies. sometimes nature is as not right as we are.
Aw. Had the same thing happen here. At first I thought the baby doves hatched, but no. I think a rat got up in our tree, which is just gross.
One of the doves did sit in the tree for a while, but hopefully it was just confused and not as sad as it sounded.
we have several episodes of the "circle of life" with baby birds down at the lake, too. But, somehow seeing that beautiful blue egg against the deep green grass, cracked open and the bright yellow-orange yolk, it's all so beautifully sad and disturbing.
Yes, they do feel grief. Not only do they feel grief, but you should know they also feel the necessary need to avenge those who photographically exploit their dead never-to-be-born hatchlings. Consider yourself warned...
Just call me Tippi.
Sadness. I often wonder about those things, too. If nothing else, it had to be confused. . . poor little bird.
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