ON HELPING SOME ROBINS BUILD A NEST
DTEB,
I helped some robins build their nest today!
No, I did not directly help. They didn’t need my direct help, and I’m sure they would have managed without me.
However, . . .
This morning, as I was going back inside after having my yogurt and strawberries on the deck, I saw three robins on our garage roof. It was likely two males and one female. One bird had straw in her (??) beak. One of the other birds (a male?) was chasing the other bird (another male?) away.
I am basing my reading of the little drama which played out before me on certain assumptions about the behavior of birds. I am no ornithologist, so these assumptions need to be taken as just that—assumptions.
Assumption # 1: Female birds are more interested in building nests than in fighting off other birds.
Assumption # 2: Males are more territorial than are females, and want to keep the females all for themselves.
Of course, I may be wrong in both of these assumptions. Perhaps I am (mis)understanding birds in terms of fairly common human behavior. If so, I sincerely apologize to the entire species!
How did I help, you may ask? I provided the straw!
Oh, alright: I didn’t really provide the straw for the birds. I got it a couple of months ago, trying to keep my strawberries from freezing.
Still, it was rather satisfying to see them using something I had provided, no matter how unintentional my provision was.
I was reminded of a little drama I saw played out many years ago. Two sparrows were making love in a large oak tree outside my office window. I looked away because I did not wish to violate an intensely personal moment for the birds. It was a cold day in January, and I marveled at their courage. I was battling depression, and was heartened by the birds.
The very next morning, I saw what I could only assume were the same two birds in the same tree. They both had twigs in their beaks, ready to build a nest. Make love, make a nest: It is important to do both!
I am not too old now for the making of nests.
Or then again, am I?
Perhaps I—perhaps all of us—can nurture life in one way or another. Or, at the very least, we can provide some straw.
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