I went for a walk today. In a clump of bamboo near the lawn, someone had hung up one of those pre-made birds' nests handwoven from coir fibre. And there was a baby bird in it! It looked like a fluff of cotton with two legs attached, and it was yet to grow feathers anywhere other than its tail. It visibly pulsed when it breathed, and when it cheeped, it pulsed extra hard, like a musical instrument. It was so darling.

I stood there and watched it, and a passersby, a woman, asked what I was looking at. I pointed out the bird to her and she was surprised. She wondered aloud whether the nest had been built by a bird or a human, and then replied to herself by saying it looked like a human-made one someone had put there. I agreed with her, and she went on her way.

Another passersby, a little boy carrying a bag with schoolbooks, asked me the same question, what I was looking at, and I told him. He was overjoyed, but it all went downhill from there. He said he'd tear the nest apart and take the bird, and I told him it would die. He said he'd take it home, nest and all, and I said he wouldn't know what to feed it. It was one of those tiny birds that drink nectar. He said, "I'll feed it grains of rice and if it vomits, it vomits." I said it would die if he couldn't feed it properly, and it needed to grow right here in its nest, taught to feed and fly by its parents, for it to leave the nest and survive. He said that if it was allowed to do that it would leave, that he'd take it home and close all the windows so it wouldn't leave. I'm summarising, but he was a little boy of nine or ten years old, yet the language he was using was violent. He could see that the bird was little more than fluff, so so fragile. And it ruined everything to hear that his first desire on seeing something so vulnerable and soft was a desire for ownership and control. Why is masculinity. And so young?!

My first thought after that was that my joys shouldn't be shared, after all, that my joys should be protected. I don't know how far that's true, but it feels true right now 🤷🏻‍♀️ perhaps Dreamwidth is the place to share my joys because people can be so disappointing IRL. Anyway, I told him that if he even touched the bird, its parents would push it out and it would die, because birds think humans touching their babies will give their babies disease. I told him even touching an egg will make them abandon it. He was shocked by that, and it was strange seeing him shocked by that when he wasn't shocked by the shocking things he was saying. Anyhow, I think that made enough of an impression on him that he won't try any of the things he threatened. I didn't feel entirely at ease leaving the nest unguarded to come home, but I can't practically spend all day there. I'd also stopped enjoying my walk and wanted to come home. So here I am, home, writing about it.

Well, none of this changes the fact that the little baby bird is the tiniest fluffy bundle of joy!