As I was telling you before, me and my family were hosts to a family of birds through the month of July.
They quickly became part of the family, to the point that we would be able to recognize the mother from the father, and even notice which of their three offsprings wasn´t getting enough food!
I do consider myself a nature enthusiat - unless we are talking about spiders, which I recognize as an important part of the ecological balance between species, but I don´t really enjoy looking at, - therefore having this family of birds as guests was a great opportunity to watch them carefully and learn.
I´m not sure if it happens to you, but often while walking home or visiting a park, I wonder how the life of birds, dogs, squirrels and other creatures is. So in this case, while watching these birds, some of my all-time doubts met an answer, while it also generated a few more questions and theories.
- In a group, or in this case a family, there is always one that is know for being hungry, hungry for food itself, hungry for recognition, knowledge, liberty, and even independence.
- Birds grow feathers in a week! They spend a few days with no feather at all,covered only by an almost seethrough skin, but once you see the spikes of the first feathers showing (like we saw in The Black Swan movie) it only takes 5-6 days for them to grow their feathers fully.
- Parent birds help their babies, picking up their feces and throwing them away from the nest. Birds are cleaner than I thought, they wouldn't allow any mess or food residuals in their nest or surroundings.
- Birds enjoy eating cherries... Yes I left on the porch 3 cherries each day, and they would eat them in less than an hour!
- Parent birds keep an eye on their babies, even when you can't even spot them, at the least sign of danger they come back quickly and fight for their loved ones (even if it is just by flapping their wings frantically!)
- The lack of rain affects the feeding routine of birds - and my sure many other species including us humans. Since the terrain is dry they have to put extra time on hunting for worms.
- Once a young bird decides to leave the nest, no matter how hard you try, it will never stay in again.
Here are some of the few things I learned:
- Eating like a bird dose not mean eating too little... but, eating ALL day long! Those momma and papa birds worked hard all day long to feed them, and still it didn`t seem like their offsprings had enough supplies.- In a group, or in this case a family, there is always one that is know for being hungry, hungry for food itself, hungry for recognition, knowledge, liberty, and even independence.
- Birds grow feathers in a week! They spend a few days with no feather at all,covered only by an almost seethrough skin, but once you see the spikes of the first feathers showing (like we saw in The Black Swan movie) it only takes 5-6 days for them to grow their feathers fully.
- Parent birds help their babies, picking up their feces and throwing them away from the nest. Birds are cleaner than I thought, they wouldn't allow any mess or food residuals in their nest or surroundings.
- Birds enjoy eating cherries... Yes I left on the porch 3 cherries each day, and they would eat them in less than an hour!
- Parent birds keep an eye on their babies, even when you can't even spot them, at the least sign of danger they come back quickly and fight for their loved ones (even if it is just by flapping their wings frantically!)
- The lack of rain affects the feeding routine of birds - and my sure many other species including us humans. Since the terrain is dry they have to put extra time on hunting for worms.
- Once a young bird decides to leave the nest, no matter how hard you try, it will never stay in again.
Some of the questions that still remain in my mind:
- Where do birds go when it is raining outside? They don't seem to be hiding in our buildings! Bushes? Trees seem too unlikely.- How long does it take for a bird to learn to fly? Are they scared?
- Do birds enjoy hot weather? or they rather fly around in cooler days?
And this are some of my theories or meditations, so far:
* Even though, birds like many other species, have an instinctive sense of property and belonging, they survive day by day without accumulating stuff. The couple of parent birds didn´t show up to my house carrying food or tools to build their nest! They built everything with their beaks!
* Birds like many other species lead a simple life, and it looks like a lot of fun!
Have a nice weekend everyone!
And the next time you cross paths with a bird, or any other animal (that dosen't represent a treat to yourself of course), take 5 minutes of your time to watch them. You never know what you can learn from them!
