Tuesday, September 23, 2008

In Passing

Ramadhan 23 1429

We've got a bat on the balcony said Noi this morning, just before I set off to work. I popped out to have a look, but it's difficult to see anything too clearly out there at 5.50. There seemed to be something nesting at the top of the grille which fences off our balcony but neither of us was too sure what it was.

Incidentally we're used to bats around our house in KL. A couple or more used the gap under the small roof over our back door to 'hang around' (and as a sort of toilet) before we got rid of them. But this was the first time we'd encountered any on our territory in Singapore.

When I got back in the afternoon it was to be told that our guest wasn't a bat after all, but a bird, and, sadly, a dead one. It made more sense that it should be a bird out there. The tree directly opposite the balcony is home to several and we've had a few trying to nest with us. This poor blighter seemed to have got stuck in the grille, by its leg. In fact, Noi had shooed off another bird this morning and we're now wondering if that one was some sort of companion to our late friend.

I've just been up the ladder to remove the little fellow and put it in a plastic bag. Not used to dealing with dead birds, we've been discussing what to do with it and we've decided to bury it by the roadside tomorrow. Absurd, I suppose, but the idea of just shoving it in the rubbish bin doesn't work for me somehow.

Blake: How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way, / Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?

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