When Word Spreads Birds Gather Fast (standard:travel stories, 906 words)
Author: Juggernaut	Added: Feb 23 2013	Views/Reads: 2604/1790	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Word spreads very fast among the bird community, Juggernaut learned this fact first hand very fast.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story


considering his medical practice as a distraction to his real interest; 

the plants and animals.  He was good with his hands; he built vertical 

and horizontal trellis to support gourd vines using tree limbs tied 

together with fiber peels from Banana and coconut trees. From the large 

dried gourds, he made hanging ornaments and bird cages. Using discarded 

plywood boxes from pharmacies, he built animal cages.  Among his bird 

collection were several parrots, few dozen pigeons in rare colors, 

Guinea and Turkey fowls, Peacocks and few exotic love birds given 

plenty space in an aviary  he built  himself.  Just to see a pigeon 

chick cracking open its egg shell to get out and grow up fast into an 

adult in no time was amazing to Juggernaut and feeding birds later from 

his own hand was a thrilling experience. 

During the monsoon when the rains persist for days, the moist 

air and the muddy ground made few birds sick and die from it.  On 

occasions when hurricane winds blew the roof of aviary, the Pea cocks, 

Turkey and Guinea fowls took a flight to a nearby neighborhood known 

for lawlessness, here the locals hide the captured birds for a ransom. 

The negotiations were not always easy for the return of the birds; 

sometimes, the local cops have to involve in returning the birds before 

they were eaten. While the fancy Peacocks and Guinea fowls were seen as 

pets at the backyard petting zoo, the neighborhood poor and hungry 

considered the birds as delicacy. The safety of birds was a constant 

worry if the birds were to escape during storms, this lead to give away 

gradually all the birds and other pet animals to Juggernaut's 

disappointment. 

Feeding the wild birds on the porch was less cumbersome than 

managing the birds 24/7 in the cages. The wild birds arrive on time 

around 6:30 am and pm on the porch for morning and evening meal.  If 

Juggernaut were to be late in putting out the feed, the Java sparrows 

more in numbers get boisterous and begin to knock the glass door with 

their beaks to remind Juggernaut that it was about time to put out the 

feed.  The saffron finches walk back and forth looking through the 

glass door to see anybody there? Only the doves wait with intermittent 

cooing showing their patience with the feeder. 

“There must be a universal language that all bird species 

understand otherwise how a word spreads that quickly from one house 

Finch to doves to Java sparrows to saffron Finches to red Cardinals? 

May be parrots didn't like what they heard about the menu wanting a 

different type of feed, perhaps a variety of fruits,” thought 

Juggernaut still waiting for parrots to arrive anytime soon on the 

porch fighting for the feed with their fellow fethern. 


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