Here are two sadly inter-related pictures. I imagine that you can imagine what the relationship is. I came home one evening recently, and had several shocks all at once. The first was finding Rachael’s boyfriend’s underpants (or whatever boy undies are called) lying on the floor of our spare room. The next and even more shocking shock was right next to the undies. I was leaning over to see what the undies were, when right there, almost in the same pile, was a poor little disemboweled bird. And most terrible of all, it was a wren! Wrens are one of my dearest birds, and I am always thrilled to see (an alive) one as they are a rather infrequently visitor to our garden. When I told Rebecca about it, she, being another speciesist (bird-wise at least), exclaimed, “A wren! That’s awful! It wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been an English sparrow, or something like that!” This had been my very thought, and I was feeling guilty and thinking myself unreaso
nable. Hence, I was relieved when Rebecca had the same reaction. The fact that we both felt similarly proves that it was not unreasonable at all. I will spare you a picture of the bird, and give just this hint of its poor little self. Yet another shock was in store for me! I nearly sat on a gigantic horrible moth. (“Horrible Moth” is a trifle redundant, I fear.) Fortunately I saw him before I sat on him and got moth-dust all over myself. I went to fetch my camera so I could take a picture of him, but he was on to me, and flew away before I could find it.
PS. Rachael had a reasonable explanation for the undies. I won’t bore you with the particulars.
Several years ago, my sister-in-law painted some gourds as gifts for my aunties and me. I had one of them, which seemed to be a potential birdhouse, hanging on my back porch – waiting for an occupant who never came. Until this year, that is. Yesterday, I noticed the gourd swinging a bit, even though there was no breeze, and then I noticed some twigs protruding from its little entryway. Then I noticed swift flit of grey. “Maybe it is a bird,” I thought, “but probably an English sparrow.” I have to admit that I am a speciesist when it comes to birds, and English sparrows, while kind of cute, are low on my list. Common little creatures that they are! Then I noticed that the grey streak had a long beak and a perky tail! A wren! Very high on my list! Maybe even at the top of it.
I was thrilled. Now I have to pray that the feline viper Maria doesn’t scare it away. Or worse yet, (quelle horreur) eat it! She has been sitting on the kitchen table staring out the window at it for hours at a time.
