My family used to live in a rural community in Yunxian, whose environment was pristine at the time. As a result, I was on intimate terms with nature, animals included.

To protect their traditional cottage from the elements, folks there had an extra wall built under the eaves just next to the bungalow. The extra wall did good not only to the human dwellers but also to the feathered friends that came to nest in some cracks in it.

Every year, a bird came to our house and nested in the extra wall. In nature, there should be two birds, a male and a female, co-building a nest, but as far as my memory goes, only one came to our house. I thought it was the mother. It was the same bird that came to the wall year after year. Therefore, I was able to recognise her.

The wall sheltered her eggs and her very well. Rain or shine or wind, the bird was safe and sound in the nest. Most years, she laid two eggs in a breeding season. After the eggs hatched, the baby birds were cute and adorable. Watching the young creatures became my pastime.

As the baby birds were growing, they started to fight fiercely. They were not behaving like human siblings at all. The stronger birdie ended up getting stronger; the weaker one weaker. To my sadness, each year, only one of the baby birds was able to mature and fly the nest.

One day, I found the two baby birds clawing at each other again. I tried to intervene, but the smaller one was hopeless. It was so pathetic that I took it out of the nest and cared for it in the house for a couple of days. When it looked in better shape, I returned it to the nest. Upon coming back, to my horror, the mother bird pecked at the weaker baby, refusing to take it back under its wing. In the end, the poor birdie was kicked out of the nest, dead.

It was beyond me why the mother bird hurt her own baby. Was it because she could not afford to raise two? Or was it because my smell was on the poor critter?