Hormones were stirred and had their way.

————

Churrr was Chickadee. Click was Sparrow. They had been friends since fledging last spring. No one approved of their friendship but them. Churrr’s father thought her friendship with a Sparrow indecent. Click’s father thought it foolish. Their mothers were inclined to fretting concern. “Think of your chicks”, Churr’s mother implored, “They’ll be neither Chickadee nor Sparrow, they’ll be outcasts”.

Clicks father scolded, “No birds-of-a-feather will flock to you. You will father half-breeds. I will be known as grandfather to half-breeds. You shame me and dishonor our nest”.

None of this mattered. It was a new spring.

Churr and Click could think of nothing but each other. They would like to please their parents, but hormones were stirred and had their way. The spring also distracted their parents. They now thought more about the new families they would birth and building nests for them.

Churr and Click were left to themselves.

Click pecked-up a seed and offered it to Churr. She flirtishly accepted it. Birds-of-every-feather clucked disapproval. They soon forgot. Except for one - Churr’s brother, Whir. Whir’s friends mocked him. They said his family were Sparrow-lovers and so was he. This abuse kept Whir in constant agitation.

He would fly between the lovers, flapping his wings and clacking. He could only separate them momentarily. Then his friends would laugh at his frustration saying, “What a loser. Whir’s ‘gonna be brother-in-law to a Sparrow. Haw, haw, haw”!

All this ended on the day Hawk struck a Sparrow that was pecking seeds next to Whir.

It happened so suddenly. In seconds Hawk dropped from the sky and carried-off the Sparrow. In those same seconds Whir attacked Hawk. Unthinkable. Little birds don’t attack Hawk. Hawk barely noticed. The other birds were deeply impressed. Who ever thought a Chickadee would risk his life for a Sparrow? How strange. Even so, what bravery! Now Whir was celebrated for his courage, though still despised as a Sparrow-lover. Whir was confused.

He wasn’t sure what he did, or why. It happened so fast.

Whir had been focused on separating his sister Churrr from Click. He was angry, crazy-blind angry. He struck at Hawk without thinking. It happened so fast. Now he wasn’t sure what he’d done or why. It was all so confusing.

He left Churr and Click alone to their romance.

Churr and Click spent their days in love and nest-building.

These were days of bliss. It was the beginning of their new life together. Soon they would have fledglings of their own. All would be well. The Chickadees and Sparrows might even come together over the charm of their new fledglings. New life brings new hope.

Churr warmed her eggs while Click brought food and protected the nest.

All was as it should be except the eggs did not hatch.

Birds that are not-of-a-feather can be in love but they can’t birth new birds - of-any-feather.

By K. L. Shipley