The little bird was looking straight at me. Her eyes were round and dark with a glint of light at the corners. She was almost smiling, yet, something was holding her back. From my study window, I could see her daintily holding on to the balcony fence with ease. She turned away, let out a deep grunted noise and glided to the garden bed.
This has been the ritual for the past few days. I am in love with this Hoopoe. Every day, I wait patiently for her to show up on the balcony fence. Her proud crown fans out occasionally when she is alarmed, her brown body is smooth, her long arched beak is just perfect that she uses to preen her tuft of feathers and her eyes glow in the morning light.
She is beautiful when parked on the balcony and she always takes my breath away when she decides to glide or fly. Her wingspan is glorious — with stripes of white, black and every shade of brown, and when she gives her wings a flap ever so gracefully, I always smile.
I love birds. I really do. But, the hoopoe story is new to me. I have seen them in plenty before. But, they have never stopped by my windows or my balconies. They usually strut in the garden digging deep with their beaks between cracks and corners looking for a hearty meal. So, this pandemic when life stopped and my time at the windows expanded with ease, my love affair with Hoopoes began without my knowing.
Strut or show off
At first, they hopped about, busy looking for food and not bothering to strut or show off. They were there, minding their own business till they decided one fine morning to check out the balcony. I remember their first visit. I had just finished my phone call with my parents.
The after effect of the phone call this pandemic has been gnawing — the acuteness of the distance, the anxiety of the sniffle or the irritable throat, the news of what happened to whom, the knowledge of proximity to the virus itself, settle in the depths of my system and I try to shove it away like they don’t exist. But, the fear lurks quietly within me. It was after one such phone call that I had stood at the window. My mind was trying to decipher the “cough”, I heard.
Was I reading too much or was it something I was not worrying enough about — the words sprang in my head. It was at that precise moment that I was distracted by a wingspan that flapped towards me. A glass door separated us and I stood rooted dazzled by this beauty. The Hoopoe seemed to have a purpose. She stayed put on the balcony looking longingly at a distance. After a couple of deep grunts, she began to preen herself, deftly working with her long arched beak. I lost myself in her world and for those moments, my heart felt light. I smiled for the rest of the day.
Swirling in sync
Soon, as if on cue, the Hoopoe showed herself up again the next day, and the day after that. She didn’t mind that I stood right behind the glass door. “She probably cannot see”, I told myself, but despite my quick movements, she did the most crazy acts. At times, she even stood on one leg and sunbathed holding up just one wing. “Is she the acrobat of Hoopoes?”, I laughed in my head. While I laughed and cracked jokes, the Hoopoe made funny sounds and flared her crown looking straight at me.
“Is she saying something to me?”, my heart jumped when, out of nowhere, another Hoopoe flew by. My Hoopoe met the other fella in mid air. As they both swirled in sync, flying over each other and swinging melodiously together, gazing into each other’s eyes, against the vast blue sky, everything looked perfect. A moment that lasted just for a split second stopped me in my tracks. That very moment, I thought I caught the Hoopoe’s eye. Well, Pandemic or not, while fear surrounds us, the world continues to be beautiful. It is time to savour it than fear the unknown.
Sudha Subramanian is an independent journalist based in Dubai.
