“Leaf by leaf the bed is done
With the twigs the sides are won!
The lady inspects the handiwork while the male wait!
The nest gets the nod; for the eggs that’s fate!”
The other day the whole family was reading hindi because my son had a term examination coming up! First I had to read and then explain to him!
He was reading a story in which the bird rejects her eggs because a kid touched them!
If only the writer knew that it is simply a myth!
read on!
My mother always used to warn me not to go near the terrace where you have bird’s nest! She would say that ‘crow will peck your head!’
Of course being a naughty boy I thought it was mere stories made to keep us away from destroying bird’s nest!
That was not a myth which I got to know first hand when an actual crow pecked me!
The other popular myth on how the mother or father bird abandon their little ones or eggs if any human touches them is not true though!
One of my friends called Shyam would even tell stories on how you must not kill or hurt snakes because then the injured snake would take your mental picture and the mate of the snake would then come and take revenge!
This was of course inspired by the Snake movie Nagin!
Now whether you believe that or not, no one is going to play with snakes! But investigating nests and seeing cute little eggs was not frightening!
In the story it was shown that the boy and his little sister would try to help the mother bird by making the nest a little bit stronger but the eggs would fall down and the kid would take the eggs and place them safely!
It was later shown that the mother abandons the eggs and the grandfather tells the kid on how once the eggs have the ‘smell’ of a human or another other species, they will be abandoned!
The kid is then shown to be very upset and sorry that he was responsible for their ‘death’ in a way.
If only they knew that it is not so!
No matter how flighty birds appear, they do not readily abandon their young, especially not in response to human touch is what expert Ornithologists say!
Now if a bird’s nest is disturbed by a potential predator during the nesting or egg-laying stage there’s a possibility that it will desert and re-nest!
But that is because the mother has understood that laying eggs in that place may not be safe.
But if the young are hatched and feeding, their parents are by and large pretty much around to take them back and protect them. Even small baby birds found on the ground unable to fly would be monitored by their parents from far since that is the only way the kids can be independent!
Remember that the whole ‘myth’ is derived from the understanding that belief that birds can detect human scent!
Actually, birds have relatively small and simple olfactory nerves, which limit their sense of smell. There are very few birds with extraordinary olfaction and these represent specialized adaptations. For example, turkey vultures are attracted to methyl mercaptan, a gas produced by decaying organic matter which is also the gas added to gas to make it smell bad in case of any leak), while starlings can detect insecticidal compounds in vegetation, which they utilize to keep their nests bug-free.
Yet no bird’s sense of smell is cued to human scent! Which means that they cannot smell you or me! It can also be due to the fact that naturally humans are not predators to birds.
The myth of course would have had good intention only since kids like to play with eggs found in nest and may handle them or break them which would be tragic! Then the best way to conserve the ‘nest’ and make these kids environmental conscious, these stories would have been made!
In fact like many people who help others but are easily used and fooled by those who ask for help and then take advantage of your generosity; birds are also easily fooled!
Forget abandoning the eggs touched by other species; some birds like crow and others actually end up rearing birds and eggs of other species! Even when they are born and look different, the mother does not differentiate! This is common with the cuckoo birds which simply lay their eggs in other bird’s nest and relegate all responsibilities of rearing!
In fact when the cuckoo birds babies hatch, the first thing they do is throw the other eggs and eliminate competition! Their first act on hatching out of the egg is murder! If only birds could smell deceit!
For now though this ‘myth’ needs to continue since it tries to emotionally guilt kids to not hurt the eggs by even ‘touching’!
The best rule of thumb if you find a baby bird or any animal infant is just to leave it alone. In most cases, the parents are nearby and may be waiting for you to leave the area. Touching animals can also result in diseases passing from wildlife to humans, or vice versa and Am sure no one wants another pandemic!
However, if you do inadvertently happen to touch a bird’s egg or nest, rest assured that your scent alone won’t cause the parents to flee! After all they are not humans or Cuckoo! Just leave the area as quickly and quietly as you can, and do what you can to minimize your disturbance! By the way Humans can apply that action of living alone without causing much disturbance to everything! That was dark humour! Which reminds me of birthday celebrity Sanjay Mishra and his witty replies!
Now listen to some bird sounds before you sleep so that you will feel calm!
Shubh ratri!
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