Siri in Isolation

In our pandemic isolation of more than two months we’re seeing more birds in our garden. In the morning, as the sun gains force, little birds chatter and swoop. The Saíra is the prettiest with several brilliant hues on its body. Many years ago, we found a baby Saíra in the garden, which must have fallen from the nest. It couldn’t yet fly and wouldn’t eat anything from us. Someone told us to leave it in a closed cage on the house wall and let the bird’s family take care of him. We put him in the quiet front garden across from a Yuca tree and soon his weak peeps made a noisy group of Saíra caregivers gather on the branches, taking turns to dart over to push food down his beak. I don’t remember how long this went on – we loved seeing the colorful birds and felt thrilled to be able to help – but one day we had to admit our baby bird had grown strong enough to fly. We turned the cage around and left the door open and in a day or two the little bird was gone along with his resourceful family...