My daughter told me the other day about some birds, a mommy and a daddy, that have set up house on one of her security cameras. Last year the birds, a couple of barn swallows that mate for life, built a nest and have gone ahead to parent families - three sets so far. Usually three eggs are hatched each set. The parents feed the babies until they are older and stronger, both working equally to take care of them. The babies practice flapping their wings in preparation for flight, and when the time comes for them to leave the nest, the parents encourage them and watch them leave. Some birds have fallen from the nest before they could fly and died, being eaten by ants. Others have flown off to be caught and eaten by cats. Always the parents mourn the loss of their young for an entire day with a racket of noise, and then they get back to the work of taking care of life. About half of the birds have flown off to live productive lives, to mate, and to again parent broods. When it is time for the birds to leave, the parents stop feeding them, thus, forcing their young to fly out of the nest, find food for themselves, and basically take care of themselves. The most recent brood was found with one dead that had fallen out of the nest before it knew how to fly, a second that flew out and lived, and a third that refused to leave. Because the third was not being fed by its parents or willing to find food for itself, it died. The parents mourned the loss of that bird as well. They are still trying to get the dead bird out of the nest so they can begin a fourth family.
The Bird that Died to Stay
or
The Bird that Wouldn't Leave
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