A Pictorial Chronology of Two Mayas : From Birth to Adulthood

Last June it was shade of serependity when I had the rare distinction of intruding into a maya’s nest deceptively hidden in one potted bush lodged in our building’s roof deck.

One bright morning, I almost stepped on a small wriggly mass of pinkish flesh on the slowly heating concrete floor of the deck, being devoured by a frenzied horde of small black ants. Stooping closer I could make out the crude outlines of an organism whose internal organs were visible from its diaphanous outer flesh. It was a newly hatched bird that much I knew. Picking it up and shooing with my fingers the busy clinging ants, I settled it on a small cup cushioned with a folded paper napkin and positioned the makeshift nest on top and in the safety of the observation deck I had constructed. Hoping the mother would return and minister to her young.

The following morning, a much greater number of ants had been busy on the definitely dead carcass of the hatchling. It was a disappointing sight, so disappointing I quickly grabbed the cup and dropped it at the bottom of the nearest sink and drowned all those black feasters.

It was then that I serependitously chanced upon the potted bush and realized in the midst of its thick foliage what I saw was a well-hidden bird’s nest. Poking closer and pushing aside leaves, I realized it was an occupied nest – quietly nestled in the middle where the outlines of two hatchlings and a still complete egg, maybe no bigger than half an inch across.

I decided to record for posterity and curiosity how these tiny life forms would develop to adulthood, in the midst of a very harsh and intrusive environment. Not discounting that this was in the middle of a busy bustling city, suffused with deadly vehicle exhaust, churning road dust, high-decibel traffic noise, and extreme daytime heat. No place really for, I had learned that they were mayas, this kind of bird which traditionally thrives in moist and cool country rice fields.

Since I only had a point-and-shoot camera it was decided that that would have to do for the exercise. It was no surprise that the pictures at times came out hazy and unfocused, or at times insufficiently lighted. But…

Also, I thought that taking shots every 2 or 3 days would be sufficient, taking weekends off, and shooting at different times of the day. The unhatched egg (probably a dud) would be the steady measure of the two hatchlings’ day-to-day development. All in all, it took 3 weeks for the two to develop fully and fly out of the nest, never to be seen again.

The two videos then shot by my Flip camera from my laptop are actually slideshows from start to empty nest.

BTW, there were previous blog entries for this same project:

Invading Privacy of Maya’s Nest
Week-old Today
Maya Updates
What A Difference Four Days Make
Ready to Fly The Coop
Bye, Bye, Birdie

Pet Shop: Hobby or Business?

The pet shop has definitely garnered a firm foothold in the economic landscape of the old hometown. While their number may not approximate those of the lechon-manok eating places or the must have one in each corner bakeries, the pet shop certainly can be seen and counted among the visible players in the malls and some of the heavily-trafficked commercial areas of the city.

While people from other places may wonder why my sudden interest and/or surprise in the pet shop as a business, let it be said that when I left the old homeland about 29 years ago, the number of pet shops in the city was an absolute nil. You wanted dogs or cats, you simply asked your friends or our relatives who had them. Birds or fowl as pets? Again you asked your hunter friends. Okay, so some solitary guy may position himself conspicuously in the market and sell a monkey or two or some birds, or even dogs. But not as an established business, in permanent locations, and providing the whole panoply of things needed to acquire and maintain pets.

So 30 years later, and the selling of pets ranging from dogs, cats, birds to fish, rabbits, hamsters, etc., has become a recognized economic activity designed for profit. Of course, the pet shop owner may still be the hobbyist/enthusiast/animal lover who was fond of pets and tried breeding them on the side. He may still be the guy who kept himself in the house most of the time attending to his aquaria and monitoring the progress of the many fishes that he kept in his collection.

But now it is a viable and thriving enterprise. Many families with pedigreed pets now breed them on the side and dispose of them in the pet shops around town. Pedigree and papers to show it are now common jargon among this group, and even as conversation pieces. A mixed breed can go for as low as 5,000 pesos, but a pure breed, especially those for which the locals have taken an endearing liking, or because they have seen or read that these breeds are famous and noted in other countries, can command as much as 25,000 pesos locally, and much more if in high-brow and affluent Metro Manila.

Having just recently revived an old aquarium left behind and having bought a puppy, I had occasion to travel around town giving pet shops the look-around and doing-over.

Consummated both transactions from this pet shop, located along extremely busy Corrales Avenue, congested with traffic from Cogon Market and with those heading for the malls in town.

Manned by a young couple in their 30’s, the smallish pet shop is housed in a neat concrete building owned by the couple’s family. Both husband and wife appear quite animated in hawking their wares and extolling the obvious virtues of acquiring pets. The husband is quite knowledgeable about the many intricacies of acquiring and maintaining different kinds of pets, and treats each walk-in customer with singular attention and focus. Like one was the most important client of their establishment. Very inspiring then to be dealing with such youthful personalities.