being bird

bird being

how clever birds Be.

 

 

the lewins honeyeaters are going off at the corner of the house this morning.

glorious autumn day    the sky a rich deep blue       the sun shimmering in the forest         the garden still damp from the rain and the air fresh and sparkling.

they are the squawking sounds of alarm and danger. I know this because they taught me over the spring .

 

 

I run to the window – what is it?      is the snake about I ask ?

I look out.  I cannot see them or anything else so I head out to the verandah.

the pair of them are in the lemon verbena bush and hop from there into the bottle brush and calm down.

I scan around the rafters of the roof peer into the still thick wisteria but  cannot see the danger.

I can see no diamond python.

 

 

over the spring and around christmas time the python was a constant presence on this corner of the house. it was trying to get back into the roof that we have sealed to keep out the bush rats.

the lewins had made a fine hanging basket shaped nest in the wisteria and they felt threatened.

For hours she would go off with the alarm cry setting off all the other birds nearby.

 I am sorry I cannot do anything I kept telling them – the python will leave sometime .

 she was so unnerved that she abandoned the nest.

ever so carefully I looked in one day and there were the two eggs lonely and cold and never to be hatched.

 since then the honeyeaters are hyper sensitive and though I go running what can I do?

 

 

 

a few weeks ago I brought the nest down to show Kingston.

we admired it – touched the soft downy lined inside – studied the construction and noted the use of stringybark tissue paper hair web and leaves . such a  work of art      a thing to admire      a feat of accomplishment .

how clever the birds Be.

 

 

it stayed on the table on the east verandah still is actually

but

one morning Kingston found the eggs had been eaten-  rats we suspected .

there were some bits of shell left but during the day the skinks would take turns nosing into the nest licking up the leftovers.

 

 

 

all things in a forest return they have a purpose there is never waste     it is life renewing it Self .

that’s the thing isn’t it – all creatures are Being – they are living in tune with the orchestra of life going about their busyness  and though they face predators and dangers and things do not always work out for them  –   eggs are not always hatched        the babies do not always survive…

still it is life in the raw

in the wild

 life Being.

we could learn a lot from this     –    from nature from life being lived by the tree and the turtle and the bird.

 

we could learn to set aside our doings and ego self importance     take a huge leap into humility and learn to Be.