The Nest

The rubber tree in my front yard, the mango tree, the curry leaf tree and many birds - the cuckoo, the robin and the kingfisher who visit the vicinity have always inspired me to write something about the things happening around in the nature. The inspiration, this time, comes from the tiny little sunbird.

The super small avian friends – tits, prinia and sunbirds have made the trees in the surroundings their permanent abode. The sunbirds, like their feathered friends, make several rounds in the neighbourhood and keep flying from one tree to the other in search of food. A couple of mango trees in the adjacent compound provide them both - insects to feed on and the much needed shadow to rest a while. The huge dark brown branches of the tree are ideal for them to preen their tail and the wings. They gracefully bend their body backwards as they clean the wings with their beak, by spreading them one at a time. They clean the beak by rubbing it several times against the bark. Right from day break till sundown, their life is full of acrobatics. They don’t need ‘Yoga’ to be agile.

They make calls and invite their friends and partners. “Catch me if you can” seems to be their favourite play.. at least that is what their actions suggest. Watching them play, from close, is a blessing.

The sunbirds, by now, have started trusting the people around. They cling on the hanging creepers in the gallery. They dash into our drawing room sometimes. After spending a few moments indoors, they fly away in their natural surroundings ... that is where they belong to. Don’t they? I feel pity to see the caged birds. I pity the mindset of the people caging them.

The breeding time is approaching, it seems. The male and the female bird decide to construct the nest to lay the eggs. This pair of purple-rumped sunbird dares to select a low flexible branch of the lemon tree alongside the compound wall of my apartment. Is this confidence or over-confidence? The place, I assume, is carefully selected though. The big birds [predators] like the crows, the coucals, the cuckoos and the kites which fly nearby do not venture so low. Even if they do, the lightness of the branch will unsettle them. Also, the prowling cats in the locality won’t jump that high to destroy the nest.  A safe place for the young ones, for sure. The green leaves on the branch covering the nest will save the nest from an untimely rain.

I start keenly observing their activity. They get busy with the first ray of the Sun. They make several rounds during the day with threads, dry grass, leaves, coir, sponge, dry yellow grass and cobwebs in their beak to complete the nest - with a small opening at the top - within a fortnight. With the nest on its edge, the already flexible branch now bends more. The nest moves back and forth with the breeze.

By constructing the nest at the height of hardly six feet from the ground on a lower branch of the tree that bends on the foot track, the bird has placed a blind faith in the man. Let’s live up to it, I tell myself.

For next few days my observation continues. The birds now come early in the morning and then in the evening. They roam around during the day. A week or so after the construction of the nest, to my surprise the activity stops suddenly for reasons best known to the birds. Every time I walk down, I look at the nest with false optimism. I feel sorry.

Now, the abandoned nest sways with the wind…  A house constructed with so much of efforts, now lies in ruins.. it could never become a home..

- Nishad Umranikar