Nails Abound But Our Nests Survive.
The pigeon fluttered his wings and cooed to his mate. She nodded and quickly flew down from the ledge. She had decided that this was the perfect place. They had finally found the home they had been looking for the past few weeks.
The winter was just round the corner and the female pigeon was ready to welcome the new addition into her family. She fluffed up her feathers and swooped down at the natural hollow on the really big flat area. It was just perfect, she thought! The home she had dreamed about and she settled down.
Her mate flew away immediately; he was still thinking about how difficult it had been searching, flying and fighting with others to get the home they had wanted. He flew towards the stack of twigs that he had seen across the park, near the path where the workmen sat to while away their time.
He quickly selected the finest twig he could find and flew back to the nest only to find his mate perched back on the ledge muttering and grumbling loudly!
The woman who lived in the building had shooed her away and was doing something on the wires nearby. Why did these humans have to clutter things up? Putting up big buildings, cutting down trees and just taking up space every where they went.
The lady finished hanging the clothes and looked around to make sure there were no pigeons nearby. As soon as she closed the door the pigeons flew down towards their nest, and began to set the twigs. One by one they gathered the twigs and arranged them to perfection. Fiddling and fixing till it was just as they wanted it to be; there was still more work to do yet.
As the sun touched the land to hide behind the big skyscrapers, both the birds settled to spend their night in their new home. The pigeon nearby on a perch and the mate on the nest.
The next morning bright and early the birds flew away to gather more twigs for the nest. They had a lot of work to do and both labored non-stop through the day.
They both flew away one more time and returned to find their nest all scattered! Oh! no, the lady had done it again and on top of their nest was a line of menacing looking nails; all sticking out and ready to hurt them.
To say that they were upset, would be putting it mildly. Together they sat by the ruined nest looking for things to salvage and thinking what to?
The pigeons went all over the nest and saw it from all sides. The mate went and tried to sit on the nest among the haphazard twigs, sitting away from the sharp nails. She tried one way, then another till she finally managed to squeeze herself in the position she wanted.
She declared to her mate that it was still good and he immediately set about to make it perfect. The nails did not deter them from doing all they could to make it into the perfect nest.
The lady tried to shoo them away but soon she stopped interfering with the birds as she saw the nest was being made daily even when she cleaned the area.
The pigeons were very happy and one morning they had two perfect little eggs in the nest. The routine of taking care kept them both busy and one by one two furry little chicks emerged, enjoying the safe, cozy environment of their home.
The pigeon sat close by keeping a watch, the humans came and went occasionally but never too close. Even they got excited seeing the baby-chicks but never came close.
The humans marveled at their Nest and the other Pigeons talked about it – the fortress on the ledge where life was so secure!!
Perseverance pays was the buzz word for the pigeons all over the colony!!