Sun Bird and the Rhythm of Life

Yesterday our sun bird pair (we know that they are ours because we are theirs – at least that is how they treat us) fledged the first of their two chicks and today the second. We get a great deal of joy from watching this natural cycle take place in our living room.  You see, we live in Cairns in tropical north Queensland and our pair have nested in the shelter of our veranda building their second nest there.  We live on our veranda for most of the year so we consider that they are in our living room!  We do many things especially for our sun birds, for example we only sweep the veranda, never use the blower while they are there, we give them perfect twine to nest on and ensure that traffic is kept to a minimum in their area.  We also hold the water hose at just the right flow so that they can bathe.  In return they trust us with their presence, show off their babies to us and talk to us on a regular basis.

Every day, we learn something more from our sun bird pair and their families, particularly about trust. They have shown us that even such a tiny bird will trust us if we show that we are trustworthy. How could we possibly ever have thought that trust is about anything else!  They have also shown us that we can have faith in the rhythm of life, to get out of the way and let life get on with it.  Of course they are on purpose – when it is nesting time, they are furiously building, when it is sitting time, mother bird is diligent and when it is growing time they work feverishly to provide for their young.  It is full on action. However they are in flow with the natural rhythm of life and I am grateful to have learned that lesson from them.  The total joy of sun birds.

It would be great to hear your bird stories.