Holly and I are very blessed to have a house that has immediate access to a walking trail. A lot of our early evenings now involve a short 2 1/2 mile trek around the development, looking at the numerous deer (16 or so last night) and listening to the birds. It’s a great few moments we can have together.
Last evening, we ran upon a woodchuck sort of creature (I was too busy wondering if it could chuck wood to get a great look at it), and then came to a place where the trail crosses a road.
A small bird ran out from the grass that was next to us and begin to make lots of noises. We watched her as she looked back at us and then begin to struggle as if she was hurt. We stopped in our tracks to look at her. When we didn’t move, she began to fall over, revealing under her feathers to the non-camouflaged area of her body.
She wanted to make sure we saw her.
We stood there for a moment taking it all in.
We had apparently walked up to a place close to her nest. This mother bird ran from her nest not from fear of us, but for the protection of her babies. She was distracting us, pretending to be hurt so that we would follow her and leave her nest alone.
Holly and I both said, “How beautiful.” “It’s OK mommy, we’re moving on. Your babies are safe.”
We walked slowly and softly away from the nest and the mommy bird got up from her “injury” and ran away.
Wow, a mom willing to sacrifice for her nest.
That’s so sweet – I never tire of the beauty of nature!
~Kristen