Friday, June 23, 2006

"Shell" shocked



I had s scrambled egg for breakfast. I couldn't finish it even though it was joined by bits of bacon and potato and chives.
Why did I feel guilty about eating an egg?
I feel like maybe a Mother Hen is clucking herself a new feather over losing the best egg of her crate.
Do you think they get attached to their young shell creatures like regular sparrows do?

We recently observed a Mother bird of some kind (I can't tell the difference between a robin and a batman...er, I mean, a finch)....sitting on top of her eggs in a nest that would make Donald Trump's best New York high rise look flimsy. Imagine how much time she took to bring one branch, one mouthful of dirt, one piece of straw from the neighbors new garden hat...one at a time over days and days...to build this estate for the nurturing of her offsprings. She then patiently sits on the eggs until the birdlings decide they are ready to meet the world.
Then the Mother guards them fiercely like they are Liz Taylor's diamonds...but sometimes she flies away for a short time to..uh..to go bird bowling, or maybe instead of a pedicure she gets a "beak-acure" (who knows what the heck she does)..but then her male mate comes in for his "shift". He stands guard as deligently as the Mom does...only he is carrying a pack of tiny cigars to give out at the first sign of the babies "cracking open".

It really is fascinating to see the caring and protection that members of the animal kingdom do naturally. Our natural instinct is to want them to go elsewhere so we don't catch the fantasy bird flu.

Maybe I am over-thinking this egg-eating dilema...I obviously had no problem eating other living creatures. Maybe I'll think about it over lunch...hmmm..guess I'll avoid "Chik-a-filet"..but probably just for today.

2 comments:

Linda said...

Fantasy bird flu...hmmmmmmmmm....

Anonymous said...

All that nest talk is fine unless it is in my grill.