Summer is here. I only go out from the office at 1:00 pm to go to the gym and back at 2:00 pm but I am wincing and complaining. I don’t look good either, sweating so much walking in that 100 meter walkway stretch.

Then I think about the little bird in the nest outside our window. You see, birdie batch #3 had hatched – this time, there’s only one bird despite the fact that there were two eggs in this latest batch. We don’t know what happened to the other egg. We just woke up one morning to find out it wasn’t there anymore. The lone egg hatched about 10 days ago.

It hatched just in time when the temperatures rose and summer came to Dubai, declaring it’s arrival from the top of its lungs. We were worried for the tiny, fragile creature.

For days, mommy and daddy bird alternately sat on the nest to protect the young bird from the heat. There could never be a clearer explanation of parental love than this. The two birds would sit there, huffing and puffing – hungry and thirsty while the baby bird stays in the shade. We attempted to put food and water but it would only attract other birds, endangering the nest and the little bird.

After 10 days, the little bird wasn’t so little anymore. It got bigger and stronger with time. It even attempted to bite when Pristine extended her fingers to touch it! Look at that face! Mean little fellow!

We’ve seen them feed the little one too.

This morning at 9:00 am, both the mom and dad bird weren’t around. The baby bird was huffing and puffing as the weather got really hot. My mother who stays in our house was worried while we are away for work and school, thought of some ways to help — looked for a box or something to take the little bird in. She was away for all 10 minutes and when she came back, the little birdie had died. 

I wish the birds wouldn’t nest near where we can see it again because little creatures as they are, it pains to know and see another death even though it is expected. We know birth and death is part of nature and it’s survival of the fittest, especially in the animal world. We just didn’t expect to see it this close, right outside our window.

ALREADY!? Yep.

While I was busy working and not updating my blog, the birdies did not waste time giving me something to write and think about: apparently, birds do not know anything about birth control. I know I say it again and again and again!

Remember the newly hatched birds (two of them) a couple of weeks ago? Well, they DIED. One morning we woke up to see both of them lifeless. My mother thought they’ve been poisoned by the toxic nest, full of bird droppings since they are the second batch and mama bird had been using the same nest. Pristine had so many questions regarding their death. Death is something so hard to explain to a child even if the one involved is an animal.

Since we could not open that part of the window where the nest is, my mom got a long stick (our curtain rod!) and removed the nest with the two dead birds in it. All was well until one weekend, we woke up to two birds ‘surveying’ the small space outside our window. The other bird would walk around while the other will attempt to fly low – we assumed that it was testing the flight path for the future baby birds. It is amazing to see.

Here are the birds trying to build a new nest using twigs and thin wires which they have bent so perfectly to form a circle!

We also saw the two of them helping one another BUILD ANOTHER NEST on the opposite side of where the old nest was! There are more than 15 apartments with outside window spaces like ours but they chose ours as their nesting place. That would mean something. What do you think?

Their labor of love for the month of April:

Since they built the nest on the side where we can open our window, I got a clearer view!

This morning I woke up early and waited until mama bird fly out so I can check out the nest again. Surprise, surprise.

So as much as I don’t want to turn this into a bird blog, I can’t help it – Pristine asked me to write about it and post photos. We’re again excited for the birds to come and hope both of them hatch and survive.

*****

Sorry for this delay but Congratulations to Jacki for winning a copy of the book, The Recipe Club courtesy of Harper Collins!

In the fear of turning this into a bird blog, I didn’t write about what happened after the egg outside our windows hatched. Except that he was named George.

George flew away ten days after he came out of the egg so the nest was empty again…but not for long! Mama bird didn’t waste time getting pregnant again (apparently, in birdie world, there’s no such thing as birth control hee hee) and laid two eggs again some couple of weeks back! Two days ago, the eggs hatched – all TWO eggs! I couldn’t help but blog about them.

As you can see, the nest is full of bird droppings. Pristine said she can’t imagine sleeping in a crib with all that dirt from her mother! Ewww. But in the bird world, it is ok – or should I say, the little birdies do not have a choice.

Closer look of the birdies:

I wonder what will become of them a few days from now? They will outgrow the nest and fight for space!

Yesterday, Pristine told me that Mama bird flew out to find food and when she came back, she fed them “mouth to mouth style”. It was an amazing sight to see, especially in the eyes of a child. Also as you can see in the photos, the little birds’ heads aren’t in the same direction, one facing right and the other left. Mama bird sat on them (I hope she’s not heavy!) and a few minutes later, the little birdies were facing the same direction!

Pristine was like, “Whoa! How did she do that without hands?”

Pristine screamed from the other room. “Maaaamaaaaa, come! come!!!!”

I ran like a mad woman, with soapy hands thinking of a thousand and one things as the reason for all the panic. “Get the camera! Get the camera!”, she said. Pristine was by the window, all smiles and eyes oh so wide for this:

The nest outside our apartment window had just showed some drastic changes.

Closer, closer.

Awww. Isn’t it the cutest? But made us wonder, how did it ever fit into the egg as small as the other one in the nest? HOW?

While we were busy cooing over the new baby bird, the mom came back. Pristine said, “Congratulations, mommy bird!” LOL. The mommy bird was pacing back and forth, cautious of our movements. Though the mirror is one-way (we can’t be seen outside but we can see from the inside), the bird definitely knows someone’s near.

After she thought everything was clear, she came back to the nest to warm her new baby and the other egg too.

Now, we are anticipating the arrival of the other baby bird inside egg #2. That egg was laid a few days after egg #1 so it might crack soon…or not. It’s exciting.

Now, Pristine is busy thinking of names for baby bird #1. Any suggestions?

A work colleague has asked me, “How’s the new place? Enjoying?”. I just nodded and smiled at her but when I walked to my car to drive back home, I couldn’t help but think : “Am I spending enough time in our new apartment to be able to really enjoy it?”

So I calculated: I leave for work at 8am and come back at 7:30, sometimes 8pm = 12 hours spent outside!!

That means, since like all creatures on Earth, there’s only 24 hours for me and I only spend 12 hours of it in my home, (mostly) 8 of which I’m sleeping, that makes 4 hours ‘extra’ hours only per day.

About 2 hours of that is spent on the kitchen making meals, preparing lunch boxes or in the bedroom folding laundry. No wonder there’s hardly any room for movie viewing or “house decorating”  (our place looks really beige) for me. The remaining 2 hours is helping Pristine with her assignment, listening to her stories, reading her bedtime stories and occasionally listen to my mother discuss about Edward and Bella (she’s almost finished with the 4th book!) like they lived next door.

On Fridays (my day off) I get to lazy around. So thank God for that.

So the point is, I want to spend more time at home but that’s just not possible right now with the extra work I have (not complaining just…tired). I can only maximize the time I have with me to do the things I love to do at home. Right now, it includes watching out for the nest outside our window:

NOTICE ANYTHING DIFFERENT from the last photo??

YES! There are two eggs now! Here’s a closer look:

The mother bird sat on the nest for quite some time and we had to wait and wait until the mother bird fly out to take a photo of the nest. She has to go and find food for herself so we waited for that moment!

We were tempted to put some grains but afraid some other birds might see it, swoop and destroy the nest so we just let nature do its own thing. It’s difficult to put food anyway because we can’t open the window on that side where the nest is.

I can’t believe the sacrifice made by moms (even birds) — they practically starve just to warm their young. I feel so much for the bird because there’s not much food here in desert land. She flies out and goes back in like, two minutes.

Okies, that’s it for now…it’s the last day of work for the week today. I’m looking forward to ‘enjoying’ time at home on my day off tomorrow. Hope you all have a great weekend!