Let Our Picture Tell Your Story [30th Edition] ~ Ochicha The Mother Bird

One year, when the chief farmer lost his silo to an inferno, farmers did not have grains to plant around Lake Victoria, as such there were no grains for the birds to feed on.

Ochicha the sparrow, a mother bird with three chicks found it difficult to feed her babies. She could not stand seeing her chicks starve. The chicks will twitter anytime hunger strokes them.

She flew across the borders of Lake Victoria to look for grains. It was a long flight but she embarked upon it. At least, to fend for her chicks. She flew and came to a field of yellow and orange colored flowers. As she perched on one strand of flower, the flower began to sing:

♪ Oh mother bird,
My nectar is bitter,
My flowers are venom,
Don't touch my stem,
Else you'd be swallowed in penury.

Ochicha jumped from the stem, landing on a branch of a nearby tree, she looked in disappointment where else to go. All the flowers looked the same. Where would she go now and find some sweet nectar for her chicks?

She flew further to another stem. Now, the flower smiled at Ochicha and then started singing again:

♪ Oh mother bird,
My nectar is bitter,
My flowers are venom,
Don't touch my stem,
Else you'd be swallowed in penury.

She couldn't bear it anymore. She won't return home empty-handed. As flew to an orchard and began to twitter for others of her kind, none came to her. Then she knew she was in a strange land.

Next thing, she flew high in the sky to see how far other species like her could have gone in the search for grains. So high that she saw another sparrow picking worms and digging up clay with their beaks.

If that is what can serve as food for now, why not give it a try.

Ochicha tried it out and it worked. Before you knew it, all three chicks struggled to pick a piece of the worms.

After the rains, Ochicha noticed that some plants were growing under her nest. It is the corn grain from their excreta that had germinated.
Who would have thought that what has been eaten could grow again?

At last, she doesn't have to go too far searching for grains. But another feat that started growing in her mind was that of other species not discovering the growing corn stick under her nest. They would devour it and the grains thereof may not serve all the birds in Lake Victoria.

_{All images used in this publication are derived from @pappiloncharity A White-Throated Swallow for feathered friends: Let Our Picture Tell Your Story. It's the 30th edition and my very first entry. @maryjacy@cool08 @royaldiadem noin in this contest. Read the announcement post by @wrestlingdesires Here}