A Pigeon In My Home

As a child the memories that I have about birds’ nests are that they are made on the branches of trees , in the attics ,on the roofs , ledges and so on . I have never seen a bird making its nest on the floor. The balconies of my home are often visited by a good number of pigeons. During summer they get a respite from the scorching heat by sitting behind the AC ; on the window ledges ,on the stand supporting AC unit and even at the top of the AC unit. Same places serve as their shelter in winter as well. I always liked these guests in my balconies and never tried to shoo them away or tried to avoid these visitors by covering my balconies with a mesh as that would be bidding adieu to these harmless creatures forever.
My children are also very fond of these birds and the idea of covering the balconies with a mesh gets an absolute no in my family. One day my elder son who is very fond of birds and dogs ,came to me and said that a pigeon could be seen in his balcony and since many days it has been bringing dry twigs, straws and it has been putting all those straws behind the inverter. I told him that it might be collecting the straws and keeping it safely here.It might be definitely making its nest nearby .

But my assumptions proved wrong and soon we realised that the pigeon had made its nest behind the inverter in the balcony. I still stand bewildered. How can a bird make its nest on the floor ? Anyways the pigeon is beautiful and has some marks which makes it easily recognizable. Every morning when I opened the windows and the back door of the room that leads to balcony, it majestically came out of its nest , walked a few steps; a very conscious gait and then flew away. It seemed as if it was waiting for me only . Soon we saw that there were new members in its family. But still the morning routine remained the same. One day the pigeon didn’t come back in the nest for a very long time . My children were deeply worried about the nestlings. They felt that the mother pigeon had abandoned its nestlings and would not return .They were really upset and felt that nestlings wouldn’t survive. They tried keeping water bowl , rice and seeds close to the nest but the nestlings didn’t touch anything . We all prayed that the mother pigeon should return soon or the nestlings would die . Late in the afternoon, the mother pigeon was found sitting in the balcony of another room . My sons felt happy to see it and immediately started their frivolous rebukes .They could be seen scolding the mother pigeon on its carelessness.

“ You are sitting here.How careless it is !Go to your nest and take care of your nestlings .”

It seemed as if the mother pigeon understood their language and soon it could be seen sitting in it’s nest .My children felt relieved and were happy to see it back .
All of us have developed fondness for that pigeon but I still feel perplexed by the fact that the nest is on the floor .Probably the pigeon felt whether the floor or the ceiling of the 11th floor, how does it matter and it decided on making a secretive ,safe and peaceful abode on the floor of my balcony!

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