The old farmer gave up 5 hectares of land to take care of the birds of the sky
For decades, 5ha of Mr. Quy’s land has always been kept to prevent mixed plants from growing. These trees
HA TINH – IN THE PAST few years, Mrs. Dinh Thi Tri has not gone far, went to her house in the same commune to play for a few hours, and then returned to listen to the birds chirping.
In the late afternoon of the first day of July, when the sun gradually went out, Mrs. Tri, 77 years old, residing in Dinh Phung village, Cam Lac commune, Cam Xuyen district, went to the garden about 3,000 square meters behind the house, observing the flock of sedges. perched on the branches of the jasmine tree. Next, she swept the garden, cleaning bird droppings on banana leaves, orange branches, and grapefruit.
Ms. Tri is a retired teacher, her husband works as a prosecutor, and has been dead for more than 30 years. The family has four children, three are married and live separately, 45-year-old son lives with his mother, unmarried. At the age of 21, when she got married to Cam Lac commune, she saw the birds of the sky returning to live in the garden left by her father, with many species such as storks, cauldrons, sedges, herons… Over time, the number of species gradually decreased. , now the sedge remains.
Located at the end of the village, the garden of Mrs. Tri’s family grows more trees than the surrounding households. Surrounding the fourth-level house are about 30 jasmine trees 10-15 m high, 10-50 years old, in addition to fruit trees such as bananas, guava, oranges, lemons…
Every year, birds fly to Mrs. Tri’s garden from February to the end of September of the lunar calendar, then leave. Birds nest on 30 jasmine trees, one tree has about 15 nests, connected by branches and roots, about 20 cm in diameter. During the 7 months in the garden of Mrs. Tri’s residence, the birds breed about 3 litters, each laying 3 to 5 eggs. It is estimated that the number of birds today is more than 500, mainly sedges.
Birds breed most at the end of the 4th lunar month, when the weather is cool, the young birds quickly have full wings. In later generations, the birds grow less. Every morning, the parent birds fly to find food, near noon the prey returns to raise their young, this repeats in the afternoon of the same day.
“The birds are like a part of my family’s memories. The sound of baby birds and mother birds chirping every time they come back from hunting is a signal of the morning, noon, and evening moments of each day. The three children have married and married. When I call my husband, every time I call my mother, I don’t forget to ask how the birds live in the garden. When they come home to visit, they always go to the garden to observe the birds, telling me to be careful,” said Mrs. Tri.
There are years when the birds come home late due to the long cold weather, Mrs. Tri feels empty, every morning and afternoon she goes to the garden to look forward. In 5 months (September last year to February next year) when many flocks of birds matured and left, she and her son renovated the garden, planted more trees, and built an iron fence around the bottom to prevent people from entering. Strangers invade, waiting for the birds to return in the spring.
Viewed from above, the garden of Mrs. Tri’s family is covered with ancient jasmine trees with a canopy of more than 5 m wide. Previously, the trees in the garden were denser, with a canopy of tens of meters wide, shading houses, but Typhoon Doksuki in September 2017 caused many large trees to be toppled, branches broken. Dozens of bird nests were blown to the ground by the wind, the eggs were broken, and the young birds died. After this time, the birds returned to Mrs. Tri’s garden less, from thousands to a few hundred.
“Every time the radio forecast that a storm would land in Ha Tinh, my heart fluttered, worried that the birds in the garden would be in trouble. Two years ago, the area experienced a storm, raging rain and wind, many young birds were blown down by the wind. the ground, or got stuck on the branches and got injured, I went out to check it, then climbed a ladder to climb a tree to put them in the nest for the father and mother to take care of,” said Ms. Tri.
Contributing to protecting the birds for decades, in addition to Mrs. Tri and her son, there is also a sister-in-law Bui Thi Mien, 79 years old, who lives in the garden next door. In the past two years, Mrs. Mien’s garden has also had a few sedges living on the newly planted jasmine tree. The two sisters, Ms. Tri, agreed that when she was away, she and her children would take care of her.
In the past, sometimes strangers from other areas came to hunt birds to sell to the restaurant, family members persuaded and advised not to do so. Now the situation is over.
At the age of seventy, Mrs. Tri wished for her health to be protected and to see the birds return to the garden every year. “Some people say that the bird droppings in the garden are polluted, but I laugh and say that I regularly clean the premises. My joy every day is to see birds flying healthily in the sky after every hour of foraging for food. “, Mrs. Tri said.
Mr. Nguyen Viet Thuan, Chairman of Cam Lac Commune People’s Committee, assessed the protection of the birds of the sky by Mrs. Tri and her family members as “excellent and for the community”.
“In previous years, the commune launched a movement to eliminate mixed gardens to build a new countryside. Ms. Tri’s family proposed to keep trees in the garden for birds to grow and received approval from all levels. The garden has many Fruit trees and old trees have economic value, in addition to being a shelter for birds, contributing to creating a green and fresh environment for the village,” said Thuan. Follow vnexpress
