Just as there are reports that birds are coming back to the beaches because these are empty of people (Mexico has lots and lots of beaches on both the Atlantic and the Pacific side of the country), so the birds seem to have come back to the trees and bushes of the city. Perhaps they were always there but were discreet because of the human presence.
All one has to do is take a walk during the early morning hours or late afternoon to hear the chirping and singing of birds of all kinds. This too was perhaps always there but was drowned out by the noise of car and truck traffic so prevalent in this city which had traffic almost twenty-four hours a day.
My patio is surrounded by the gardens of my neighbors. Bamboo bushes like these in the picture have become a haven for the finches and sparrows.
These little guys have taken over the place. I'm informed by a friend that they are House Finches.
I started paying attention to what they were doing because I noticed that they had been taking in their beaks little straw-like pieces that are shed by the bamboo and they would take these straws into the bamboo bushes. I suppose they were building nests. Then I noticed that they were doing me a great favor: the leaves of one of my bougainvillea that is in a large pot were being eaten by small caterpillars. Well, the finches and the blackbirds and other birds started to congregate there and soon there were no more caterpillars.
As a gesture of thanks, I put out a dish with water for them and crumbs of tostadas, which are dried tortillas made of maíz. Well, that created a flock of birds coming around every morning and afternoon. I can see them waiting around for me to spread the crumbs. But that is great because they stand on the dividers on the fence and sing and chirp, which makes for pleasant sounds that have come to substitute the noise of cars, motorcycles, buses, and trucks.
Now another type of bird has become prevalent in the flock: Bewick's Wren.
These guys seem to be more aggressive then the House Finches. They fly in and push everybody else out and they won't leave until they have eaten, drank some water and sometimes even had a bath. They are not as afraid of me as the House Finches who fly off if I come close to the open door that leads to the patio. In fact, one of them came to the door and pecked at the door mat perhaps thinking there might be worm in the green plastic that looks like grass.
Now I'm going to try to lure another bird into visiting me. It's one that's prevalent in Mexico City: the Humming Bird.
Before my isolation started, I had noticed that a Humming Bird would sit on the wire that stretched from a telephone pole to the house across the street. I supposed he had a nest somewhere in the vicinity because he is always there in the afternoons. Incredibly, Humming Birds are just about as common as the beautiful Jacaranda Tree that is the city's official flower.
Do you see the purple tree in the middle of the picture? Those are not leaves, those are flowers. These trees are covered with them in the spring and then they drop them all! One can find these trees all over the city. (By the way, notice how blue the sky is now that they traffic has been reduced by ninety percent.)
Along with the wren came the Inca Doves, those pesky little birds that are as used to humans as street cats and dogs are.
They refuse to fly when a human walks by. They'd rather walk to the side or under a car to let you go by. And they'll build a nest practically anywhere. Some time ago, a pair of them built a next on the knot that the Internet provider guys had made on the fiber cable that feeds me connectivity. A pair of them built a nest on the knot and the female laid two eggs. Both eggs hatched. Unfortunately, a storm knocked both chics out of the nest. Very sad to see but nature is like that: unforgiving before any mistake.
Anyway, I am hoping that someday a parrot will show up in my patio. Then I'll have somebody to talk to.
Tomorrow my other good friends, my plants which are beginning to bloom!
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