Lessons from a crow

Every day morning I used to find a large number of twigs scattered in the front yard. I used to throw them away till it struck me odd for I was not sure as to where these were coming from. Then I realised that they were from a nest of a crow in one of the branches of the jamun tree in the front yard. These twigs were apparently  sourced from several places by the crow for its nest. Now what happened next was very interesting. The crow started to  lay eggs in its nest and during its absence, a koyal, the cuckoo surreptitiously laid eggs in the same nest. As they looked identical the crow didn't notice it but I think the crow knew it but accommodated the new entrants as she probably knew that the cuckoo was not competent enough to build a nest in its own. A first lesson.

After the eggs were hatched for a few weeks the mother crow  painstakingly fed the chicks may be for just a month or so till the young ones grew wings and started to flutter in an attempt to fly. Waiting for this very moment the mother crow abandoned the nest and the chicks never to return. The young ones after desperate wait for a day or so decided to take a chance and tried to fly from the nest out of sheer hunger. A  necessity for survival. Lesson no 2.

Most of them managed to fly an odd one couldn't and so fell down and hopped around for a day or two then managed to fly away.

The abandoned nest was not taken up by any other crow or bird. It was left to scatter in the wind and cease to exist in course of time. A few twigs were taken away by other crows to build their own nest. 

But remember no crow inherits a nest built by its parents. Each time a crow has to build it's own nest when it's time arrives to lay eggs, which it does. It neither inherits nor leaves behind an inheritance. 

That left me wondering as we humans spend a lifetime hoarding wealth to be inherited by the next generation without effort that makes them often lazy and incompetent to face the realities of life boldly as most of them do not learn skills for survival. Surely there is something to learn from a humble crow..

   twigs from the nest