Last sentence:
Looking at its safe appearance and bright eyes shielded from the wind and rain, I suddenly felt emotion and respect, as if I also felt the warmth and greatness of maternal love. !
Expressing the author's admiration for sparrows
Sparrows
Liu Xiangdong
At midnight in early summer, while sleepy, I vaguely heard " "Chirping chirping" sound. At first I thought it was a wonderful dream. But if you look closely, it's the sound of a bird. I thought to myself, where did the birds come from in this dark house? So I got up and tiptoed to the corner and then to the window and listened quietly. Soon, there was another slight intermittent "chirp" sound. After following the sound, it turned out that the sound came from the outlet where the copper pipe of the wall-mounted air conditioner in the house connected to the outdoor unit.
The next morning, I opened the window and took a closer look. I found an oval-shaped gap about two inches wide where the air-conditioning copper pipes and water pipes protruded from the wall hole. There were also wisps of slender and soft dead grass exposed on the edge. and a few light gray feathers. Based on my childhood experience of digging out bird nests to get eggs, it was obviously a sparrow grass nest and a few sparrows that had just hatched. Moreover, there are specks of excrement on the pipes protruding from the wall holes and on the outdoor unit of the air conditioner. Just as I was looking around, a sparrow suddenly landed on the camphor tree in front of the window and chirped at me, as if trying to drive me away. Looking at its posture, I left the window and ran to the kitchen next door to continue observing through the window. For a moment, the sparrow first looked around on the branches, and then flew to the outdoor unit of the air conditioner. But it still seemed uneasy. It stood on the roof and shook its little head and looked around alertly before quickly getting into the wall hole...
The end of the wall hole near the house is quite tight and beautiful, while the wall The exterior exit should have been filled with cement to prevent rainwater from penetrating. But in order to save trouble, local materials were used for filling with foam plastic. However, these materials cannot withstand wind and sun, and will gradually age and fall off over time. Once, when I was cleaning the windows, I discovered that the insulating sponge and the plastic tape wrapped around the pipe had weathered and peeled off, leaving a gap big enough to put a hand in. I wanted to find some materials to block it again, but I couldn't do it after repeated delays. Unexpectedly, it has become an ideal love nest for sparrow mothers to give birth to their children.
This nest of little sparrows really cost me a lot of thought. One day when I was choosing vegetables, I saw two plump little caterpillars on the vegetable leaves, and I naturally thought of the little sparrows waiting to be fed. So I injured the little caterpillar and put it on the top of the air conditioner outside the window, so that it could wait for the mother sparrow to feed it. After an estimated quarter of an hour, I opened the window and took another look, but there was no trace of the little caterpillar. It must have been picked up by the mother sparrow and fed to her children. In order to confirm my judgment, I went to the grass downstairs and caught six more small bugs like needles, placed them on the top of the air conditioner, and then went to the kitchen window next door to observe. Sure enough, not long after, a sparrow landed on the air conditioner. It chirped a few times and then stared at the dying insects, looking left and right. As if it felt very safe, it picked up a bug and flew into the nest. After a while, the sparrow flew out again and picked up an insect and flew back to the grass nest. Repeatedly, all six bugs were soon caught in the nest. Maybe it was because the little sparrows had eaten enough, that night they actually didn’t make a tiny, childish “chirp” sound. But I was a little worried, fearing that they would eat up their stomachs or have other accidents. I didn't feel at ease until I saw sparrows flying in and out again the next morning.
I was resting at home on the weekend, when the weather suddenly changed and it was windy and rainy. Seeing the big raindrops falling in the wind around the hole in the wall, I was afraid of endangering the little sparrows in the hole, so I wanted to take protective measures. However, the hole in the wall was outside the wall and out of reach, so I was powerless. When I was worried, I looked through the window and saw that the mother sparrow was facing the wind and rain with her wings slightly spread, and she was blocking the entrance of the hole with her body.
Looking at its peaceful appearance shielded from the wind and rain and its piercing eyes, I suddenly felt emotion and respect, as if I also felt the warmth and greatness of maternal love!