Incident

I woke up this morning to a loud thump on the sliding glass door of the deck outside our bedroom. A Western scrub jay had flown directly into it and was sitting on the ground stunned. It was a hard hit.

Curiously, another jay, slightly smaller and stouter, was perched nearby on the stucco wall that borders the deck and seemed to be waiting for its (her?) partner to recover. The smaller bird was simply sitting on the ledge, occasionally looking down at the fallen one, clearly aware of it. Do birds generally exhibit this kind of friendship and loyalty? This poignant little tableau went on for a long time. I missed their departure but I'm happy that both are now gone.

I imagine the injured bird's patient partner coaching him now ("Don't you recognize our favorite tree?") and wondering about about his altered personality ("Honey, you never used to like those berries before!")

And I keep thinking there's a metaphor in here somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is.

(Photo above found online at Bird Forum.)