Cold snap and death

A couple a weeks ago a bird's nest was discovered by a dude doing up our garden. It contained 5 little Thrush eggs. The girls religiously watched the eggs hatch over the next few days and Josie even took this photo of the Mother bird sitting on her nest to show her class on News day. Over the weekend however a cold front passed over Dunedin and it got really cold over a couple of days. The upshot of this was that all 5 chicks died. I told Josie and Victoria on SUnday morning and I thought that they wouldn't have worried at all. Actually Victoria forgot about the whole incident in a flash and Josie seemed quite unruffled. In the afternoon a took down the dead chicks and had a little funeral ceremony at the bottom of the garden. We prayed that the birds would start a new family and have a better life and all that touchy-feely stuff. Josie bowed her head and stayed quiet for a while. After that we all went inside and the matter was closed (or so I thought).

In the evening before bedtime Josie came and sat down next to me on the sofa andtold me that she had a secret. She said that after the burial she had dug up one of the chicks and put it back in the nest. She thought that since the weather was warmer the sun might heat up the chick and it might "get alive again." Also she thought that the parents would miss their babies.

Kids are magic.