Anatole France
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
The photo on the right, marked “Today,” was taken 10 months after she was reunited with her bird family in the cage. It’s amazing how much she had grown.
When I was still living with my parents, my mother had pet birds — parakeets. She started with two, but eventually they bred.
One day, I noticed one of the baby birds being repeatedly kicked out of the nest by its mother. I didn’t know why, but after seeing it happen over and over, I decided to take the little bird out of the cage.
We always had at least two cats and two or three dogs in the house, so I knew it wouldn’t be safe on its own. Usually birds like that didn’t make it.
I brought it into my room and made it a little home. I used a coconut husk as its nest and attached a small branch to my bed frame so it had somewhere to perch.
It stayed in my room until it grew bigger and was able to feed itself.
Honestly, it took a while for Tweeter to settle back in with her family. I noticed that the other birds would often group together, away from her, while Tweeter would stay by the cage door.
I was told that the other birds could smell the human scent on her, which was why they kept their distance. I don’t know how true that is, but seeing her stay by the cage door was also why I would take her out sometimes and bring her back to my room—to visit the little home where she had once grown up.
It was such a small thing, but I still remember that little bird—and the tiny nest I made for it in my bedroom.
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