At first sight, birds in our balcony made us happy... but soon our happiness turned into a headache with pigeons...they peck at the plants, dig the mud out of pots and dance on the washed clothes with their muddy feet.
They left me no choice, but to scare them to save my plants. Shouting Shu...Shu..Shu.... and chasing them like a live scare-crow seemed like a temporary fix. Planted some twigs around the plants to cover flat surfaces. This idea paid off to some extent. But after few days, they learned the art of pulling out the twigs. And I tried my best to secure the twigs :-).
One of my friend warned me to cover all the flat surfaces around the plants...as pigeons lay eggs and make lots of mess. My next solution was to tie pot plates upside down ....that too in a slanting position.
At last, I was happy to save the plants in the balcony. BUT BUT.....one pigeon outsmarted my plans and laid an egg in the pot next to the window, the place where I spend most of my day. Lesson learned...pigeons are indeed SMART!!
When I saw the mother sitting on the egg, motherhood within me started admiring the hen pigeon. Couldn't believe that the pigeon was sitting just half feet away from me....
My famous quote "oops...my plants" turned into "oops... poor egg". I didn't want the egg to float in the water, so arranged some coconut husk when mother was away for lunch.
Soon realized that father also comes to guard the egg when mother is away for food.
But it is the hen pigeon taking care of the egg throughout the night....father comes once in awhile, giving sometime for the mother to get her food. Amazing to see their understanding to raise a family.
To our surprise, the pigeon laid another egg by next morning. Soon I moved them into a tray....to protect the eggs from the plants ;-).
Hats off to the mother for sitting day and night to keep the eggs warm by spreading her feathers.
Our patience turned into happiness when we saw the baby emerging out of the shell. Some of the beautiful moments to watch.
In few hours, saw a crack in the other egg too...
Again, it was father's visit in the afternoon...
And after sometime, Mamma was back to the baby...
In few hours, one more baby was out to the world...
In no time, they started cooing. It's fun to watch them cooing and playing :-).
Proud father was happy to see both the babies and sat there for quite sometime. And I was overwhelmed with happiness to see the proud family. Amazing to learn "Human" nature of Pigeons.
And next saw the usual process, Mother out - Daddy in.....
In no time, babies started drinking mother's milk. It's interesting to learn that father also feeds milk to the babies ...lot learned from these small creatures..
"Pigeon's milk begins to be produced a couple of days before the eggs are due to hatch. The parents may cease to eat at this point in order to be able to provide the squabs (baby pigeons and doves) with milk uncontaminated by seeds, which the very young squabs would be unable to digest. The baby squabs are fed on pure crop milk for the first week or so of life. After this the parents begin to introduce a proportion of adult food, softened by spending time in the moist conditions of the adult crop, into the mix fed to the squabs, until by the end of the second week they are being fed entirely on softened adult food..."
Here is a video clip of their feeding...
After few days, their beak started turning black and so their body color....
I noticed a big difference between mother pigeon and father pigeon. Whenever I water the plants, if father is around, he just flies away and watches them from far.
But if mother is around, it just stays with the babies, tries its best to scare me with fluttering feathers, unusual sounds, angry eyes and pointed beak. God's creation is great. A mother is not blessed with big brain and big muscles like a man, but she is blessed with big heart and big emotions that make her BOLD enough to protect her offspring.
And babies started responding to the surroundings. Each time I made a sound, they stared at me in protective posture.
It was fun to see them growing....
The babies were growing bigger....and so was the mess in the tray. Baby birds also started realizing the same. Couldn't stop laughing to see them sitting on the edge of the tray and pooping outside.
One fine day, I decided to clean the tray. But on the very same day, I saw both parents sitting in the tray ....seriously thinking something.
When I came back after two hours to clean the mess, I couldn't find the parents and their babies... family relocation I guess ;-). And now, the pot in the window moved out of its place...as we are shifting our nest from Punyanagari(Pune) to Bangalore....family relocation to give an independent nest to our kids.
Puranas say that a woman will never achieve Moksha and get closer to God.... as Purusha(man) is the only qualified gender to achieve the same. But for a Mother, it's God who is coming closer to her as baby in her womb. Wonder why she needs Moksha?
The beautiful journey from pregnancy to motherhood is filled with emotions and pains. But the moment baby is out, holding and hugging the newborn baby close to her chest and feeding the Nectar of Life relieves her from all the pain....some of THE most precious moments of life for a woman.
All of us pray God almost everyday, but still we dedicate a special day called Festival to pay special tribute to that invisible God. Happy to have a special day for Mother - the visible God. For all the proud mothers, I wish you a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!
And to all the readers of this post, go and hug your mom if she is with you. Forget all the tensions in your life, go and sleep in your mother's lap for few minutes...feels like heaven. Isn't it?
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