Nature at Our Doorstep

A few weeks ago, someone new moved in our on floor. But this new family is a little different from the rest.

We spotted the little guys repeated appearing in our lift lobby carrying bits of twig, dried grass and hair and realised: a pair of olive-backed sunbirds have decided to make their home in our neighbour’s potted plant.

The kids were fascinated by this piece of nature being brought, quite literally, to our doorstep. Every day we watched as the nest slowly took shape.

In the beginning, it looked really like a haphazard laying of material – not like a nest at all! I certainly had my doubts. The branch that the birds had selected to build on was hardly substantial, and the materials kept dropping or being blown away. The mess it made around the plant also annoyed my neighbour, who at one time, asked her helper to remove the nest. Noey was so disappointed when he heard that when I suggested to him that we take it upon ourselves to keep the area clean, he readily agreed and help sweep a couple of times.

By and by, and against the odds, the nest was completed. And the little family moved in.

We took peeks in the nest occasionally when the birds were not around and were thrilled at one point to discover two tiny little eggs, waiting to be hatched. We watched as the birds patiently sat on top of the eggs as they incubated. Some days we could even see the birds peeking out from the nest, looking upon as watchfully. As long as we didn’t go too close, they were happy to stay and go about their own business. We encouraged the kids to cut down on the random rowdiness in the corridor, and were pleased to note a drastic improvement in this area. When they didn’t forget, at least.

A week or so later, my helper came excitedly to tell me that one of the eggs had hatched. We took a peek again when the adults were away and indeed, we spotted the tinest little bored, about half the size of my finger. The kids were so excited!

Throughout this time, we took opportunity to learn a little about the life cycle of birds, as well as a bit more about sunbirds online. I also checked out a couple of books from the library about birds and found an interesting one called Even an Ostrich needs a Nest: Where Birds Begin which discusses many different species of birds with drawings and descriptions of their different nests. It is truly a wonder to me how birds with can create such strong, load-bearing nests from such seemingly insubstantial materials. This is, to me, surely a sign of God’s hand at work.

We are away for a bit and chances are that by the time we return, the little baby birds would have flown the coop. I’m sorry that we will miss the opportunity to see them emerge. I certainly hope another little family will come and make their home just outside our door. It has not been without incident — a couple of times, we’ve found the sunbird in our house and have had to guide it out. It even once dipped into the frying pan on the stove, much to the kids’ amusement. Thankfully the pan wasn’t in use at that time! 

But I’ve been really grateful for the opportunity afforded to us to get this close to nature. It has certainly showed me that little creatures are much more resilient than we give them credit for. There’s a lot of construction going on in my neighbourhood and my guess its that these birds have been ousted from their usual habitat as a result. While it makes me sad to think about, it also gives me hope that with some ingenuity and some accommodation, we can still live together, albeit in a different way.