Home Sweet Home

A tiny bird here, a tiny bird there, and in just a few moments a complete family of about five little birds flitted out of the cold shadow of a dense lantana bush to the warm autumn sunshine. The birds hopped from one twig to another and yet remained within the safe spell of their realm, a dense bush with pink-purple and white flowers. I’m sure that it must taken considerable effort to claim such a favourable territory because it seems to possess every element that heart of a little bird desires to have in its home. One of those elements is security, which in the case of this bush is unquestionable. One side of the bush is bounded by one of our apartment’s boundaries, while the other adjacent side is guarded by wall of an abandoned factory. The other two sides are open for all and yet only body of a tiny bird can penetrate through the jumble of thorny twigs of the leafy bush. The space inside is as warm and comfortable as it should be (which counts as another necessary element) for a flourishing little bird family. Another element that is not necessary at all yet might be considered by some birds with an aesthetic taste is beauty, which this bush definitely possesses: small pink and purple wild flowers sprinkled over to add a final touch to their bush-cum-home.

And now, an important question: which species was it that I’ve been watching so intently? To tell you that I know which bird it had been would be a blatant lie as I’ve no idea and I can only make rough guess works. As I’ve been watching them from quite a distance (from the window of an apartment in third floor!) and, as I have mentioned already that they were only little feathery things, only two species come to my mind as a possible answer to this bewildering question (watching a bird and not knowing which species it was can be a very frustrating business, that I assure you): 1) Purple Sunbird, or it’s equally possible that they were 2) Scaly-Breasted Munia, as these are the only two tiny bird species that I’ve noticed loitering about in my close neighbourhood so far. And, yet I can’t be ever fully sure of their identity, until the day one of those tiny creatures decides to delve further than their home sweet home.