Grief of a Myna

Indian Myna birds mate for life. We’ve been watching this bird & it’s mate living in our garden for the past month. Myna’s are considered pests in Australia, but they’ve been no concern to us, & they’ve become noisy but welcome guests at our home.

Early this morning my 2 yr old son approached me very distressed, taking me by the hand & leading me to our back fence, where he showed me one of the Myna birds stuck in the fence. It had caught it’s leg between the palings & being unable to free itself, had unfortunately died overnight.
Under the watchful eye of my son, I removed the bird, & began to wrap it with the intention of putting it in the bin.
This made my son quite distressed & left me with a small dilemma… Do I casually dispose of the dead bird & continue my day, or do I attempt to explain death to a 2 yr old in the face of his first experience of it?
I took a deep breath & chose the latter option… albeit an abridged version of death.
Instead of throwing the bird in the bin, I asked my son if he wanted to bury it instead. He had no idea what burial was, but somehow understood that this was a nicer option for the bird.
So, spade in hand, we dug a decent hole, placed the bird in, my son waved goodbye, then we covered the bird…. burial complete, & my son content .

Which brings me to the bird in this image. As I previously mentioned, this is the mate of the dead bird. For the whole time that we were burying it’s mate, this bird stood on the ground 10 feet from me & watched the entire process.
Upon completion of the burial, this bird flew to the place on the fence where it’s mate died, & spent the rest of the morning sitting there alone, calling mournfully. A sad & sorrowful sound, I can assure you.
I was able to snap this photo during it’s grieving vigil.