The other day Madison and I were out browsing by the arborvitae on the south side of our property when lo and behold, Maddy spotted a cute, little nest of brand new baby birds. There were no eggs, just little birds, barely full of life, waiting for mama to come and feed them. We watched them for a while, and marveled at how each little bird cuddled to the other, each one of them with the innate knowledge to stay in that nest. Each seemed to enjoy the others' company. There was one on the very edge that kept slipping out a bit, but he managed to muster up enough strength to move back up to the top.
Our dogs happened to be watching and wondering (especially Daisy) what we were so interested in, and we made it a point to take them inside with us to avoid any harm.
The next day somewhere in the interim of BBQ-ing and making sure sprinklers were still working properly, Daisy must have snuck over to the bush. She came back inside liking her chops and I thought to myself, "She wouldn't have eaten those little birdies, she knows better". But my instinct told me I had better go check on that lil' nest anyway, because you and I both know that dogs will do what dogs will do.
I approached the nest with apprehension hoping that all would be well, but sure enough, an empty, shredded nest with no little birds to harbor it. My first instinct was to yell at my Daisy dog and tell her how horrible she is, but I knew that wouldn't do any good as she had already forgotten about the little meal and wouldn't know what I was yelling at. So, in my moment of grieving for those little babies who will never know life as a mother bird, never fly, or hunt for worms, I cleaned up what was left of the nest and carefully placed it back in the bush where mama bird had built it in hopes of raising her babies. I had hoped that she would come back to her nest and grieve in her own way, whatever that is. I wanted her to have her place to sit and be ponder the loss of her little ones until she was ready to move on. I felt so bad for the poor mama bird as she had probably watched from afar as Daisy devoured her very own babies.
