Kavita Ezekiel
Bird love
As I write these pieces, Spring is not quite fully in the air, but close enough. It arrives later in my city, here in Canada. The freezing nights and warm days are turning the sidewalks and back alleys into skating rinks. After five months of winter, everyone in my city is ready for spring. All our conversations are prefaced by spring talk. The three kitchen windows in my home present the perfect opportunity to drink a cup of ginger tea while meditating on the blue sky, the trees and the birds. We are blessed to live near a nature reserve, so some exotic birds and animals wander through our area. This afternoon, I watched two birds from the middle kitchen window, sitting serenely on the power lines. The birds were small with longish beaks and were definitely not sparrows. The picture of pure peace and tranquility, at times, the pair were simply sitting in perfect stillness, at other times turning to each other, beaks touching. They appeared like two people, perhaps on a first date, kissing each other shyly, seeming to express deep love and admiration for each other. Bird language is a powerful communicator of emotions! They were in no hurry to fly away, which I found to be most unusual. The blue sky and the green trees, some remnants of snow on the branches, formed a matching backdrop to their stillness. When they had gone, I wondered whether they had taken their relationship to the next level. I wanted them to return and tell me the progress they had made and whether they were planning a family. After the birds had flown, a baby squirrel scampered by, balancing on the power lines with perfect precision. I felt like I was watching ‘Cirque du Soleil’!
Murmurations
For weeks I had been watching the sky suddenly covered by a cloud of small black birds. Blessed with three windows in the kitchen, I moved from one window to the other with my cell phone, to take a photograph of the poetic phenomenon. Several times, they evaded me. The flock of birds moved swiftly and noiselessly through the air in perfect harmony and singularly focused. I remembered they were starlings and the amazing cloud cover was called ‘Murmurations.’ I found some irony in that, as I heard hardly any murmuring, just a silent fly by. Perhaps they were murmuring under their beaks or wings, inaudible to the human ear. What impressed me the most was the beautiful formation, which seemed to have been well rehearsed and executed flawlessly. I was reminded of The Fly Past of the jets on Republic Day in India. Sometimes, I see a smaller group of little black starlings circling a particular tree in the back alley. They fly a short distance, always in circles and return to the same tree. They don’t cover the sky in a black cloud, like the one I had seen earlier. That black cloud of birds is truly a spectacular one!
Sunbathing Squirrel
Three times the largest black squirrel I had ever seen appeared on the fence between my neighbour’s house and mine. I aimed my cell phone directly at the fence and captured him in pictures on two consecutive days. Both times, he sat there, choosing to bask in a large patch of sun, undisturbed by my presence. Past squirrels on the fence have detected human activity and scampered away in haste, although I am always well inside the house. The first day the huge squirrel presented itself in a sitting position and, a little later, stretched out fully as if it were sunbathing. It seemed completely relaxed and comfortable in its own skin. I felt it deserved the title of ‘grandfather squirrel,’ because of its appearance, but when it stretched out leisurely in the sun, I decided to name it ‘sunbathing squirrel’! The third time the same squirrel appeared sitting upright on the same spot, carefully choosing the exact same warm sunny place. The sun loved him and was happy to shine down warmly on him. This time, his tail was up in the air and seemed to be bristling with the light breeze. He hardly looked like a squirrel, and when I shared the picture with my neighbours, there was much debate about whether he was really a squirrel or some kind of a pack rat which is found here in Alberta. Finally, by common consensus, we decided it was simply an older squirrel. The subject of the debate arose because of the unusually large nose and pointed ears of the creature. Other black squirrels have surfaced from their winter hibernation to claim their buried acorns and sometimes run along the fence length. This one was quite unique in shape, size and appearance.
The robins, which have begun hopping about, are my favourite, and there is a large magpie’s nest on the tree across the street. I can see it clearly from our office. When the magpie can be seen balancing itself at the edge of the nest, it is truly a beautiful sight to behold.
Spring has definitely sprung! My mind goes back to Shelley’s line in ‘Ode to the West Wind,’ ‘If winter comes, can spring be far behind?’
