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I usually write about serious social issues but today I am in the mood of writing about finicky birds that will put you in a lighter mood of laughing and enjoying the caprices of birds.
Source : Photo of the bird nest I made and ignored by the finicky birds
One day I decided to make a bird nest to put up high in my
lychee tree so I found a piece of PVC pipe and put a wire screen on one side of
it, drilled some holes and tied it nicely with wire so that the nest will be
safe from tree climbing snakes that make raiding the bird nests for their tasty
dinner a favorite passtime.
I then climbed up the tree with a ladder and tied the nest
securely in between a fork of the branches with a nylon rope so that the nest
does not fall off during typhoons because this country is cursed with numerous
typhoons all the time.
To make the nest more comfortable for the prospecting
birds, I put soft grass in it to make it more inviting and then I anxiously
waited to see if some birds got curious enough to check out my sturdy and
comfortable nest.
Now I am sure the birds took notice of my offer being
naturally curious and checked it out for its suitability but alas they found it
not to their taste. It is unbelievable how finicky they can get to my
disappointment. If I was the bird, I would not have wasted any time to occupy
the nest and defend it with my claws and beak from the encroachment by other
birds but I am not a bird, just a bird lover.
So today I took a photo of the nest to prove the point that
you can bring a mule to a water trough but cannot make it drink from it so I
think these birds are like the mule. They believe in their own ability of
making a nest that they are proud of so I reluctantly salute their independent
spirit although still a bit peeved at their refusal to accept my masterpiece.
I have been saving bird chicks since my childhood and one
day found a baby bulbuli that had fallen off the tree during a storm and needed
saving. It had no feathers and was quite ugly to look at but I brought it home
and fed it gruel and other tasty tidbits several times a day so it gained
weight and developed beautiful feathers of myriad of colors. It was now a
beautiful bird that chirped with melodious sound.
My happiness had no limits but the feral cats had ideas of
their own because there was no word for love in their dictionary so one day
they grabbed the bird from its perch that was high on the wall, ate it and
smirked at me to show me who was the boss. I was crestfallen at their audacity.
Source : Google photo of the Khanjani bird in India
Then later one day I found a bird called khanjani trying to
make a nest in a hole in the wall that was only 4 feet off the ground so I was
struck by its stupidity and decided to give it a hand. Not all birds are so
stupid but khanjanis probably rate quite high. I could not persuade it to make
a nest much higher up in another hole in the wall to keep it safe from the
feral cats that were always around and making plans of their own so I decided
to help the stupid bird.
I made a clay wall in front of the nest and made a nice
circular hole in it that no fat cat could enter. My effort was successful
because the bird came and went frequently making me suspicious of its intent.
Then one day I heard a chorus of chirping when the mama bird returned with a
mouthful of tasty worms. Now I did not have to wait long to see the result of
all the effort of the bird and baby chicks started to look through the hole and
waiting eagerly for the mama to return with more food for them.
In their eagerness to prove their growing up status they
started to make hesitant efforts to fly but landed on the ground so I had to
pick them up one by one and put them inside their nest to save them from the
cats. I kept up this effort to save them until their feathers grew enough to
enable them to fly so one day they did to the great disappointment of the feral
cats.
In the nature we find some very clever birds although
khanjani is not one of them and some very stupid birds like ostriches who just
dig a big hole in the ground and lay their eggs in it then they stand guard on
it by turns to protect the eggs. I can understand their conundrum as they are
big birds that cannot fly so they have no choice but to make a nest in the
sand.
Source: Google photo of cuckoo in India
The clever birds know how to make nests high up the ground
where their chicks are safe until they can fly. I will put some photos of their
nests that wildly vary from each other in style and substance depending on
their ability and the resources available to them. But no bird I know is as
clever as the cuckoo. It is not only super clever, it is also the laziest bird.
It lays its eggs in the nest of crows where the crow does all the hard work of
incubating the eggs and then feeds the chicks once they hatch.
Source: Google photo of a crow
The crow has a very low IQ among birds so has no idea that
it has been duped while the cuckoo goes around laying more eggs in other nests
and enjoys the free ride. We humans should take lessons from the cuckoo and
start putting our babies in other nests of stupid people so that we too can get
a free ride and start sowing our wild oats. I am just joking so do not take it
seriously.
Some birds show extraordinary skills in making their nest
while others do a ramshackle job of making a nest that are not only ugly but
fall apart during strong storms. If you ever see a crow nest, you may find
surprising things in it like a key ring with a bunch of keys you lost some time
ago or bit of wire, spokes of bicycle and all sorts of other junks. A crow has
no sense of aesthetics in making a nest like some other birds.
Here is a power point to show you different types of bird’s nest although it is not comprehensive.
https://1drv.ms/p/s!AhEN7UwabCmTcVVXvgDXpvB3VVQ?e=QqVfUI
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