我与小鸟共进早餐

朵拉·维茨曼

在耶路撒冷我家的阳台上,每天早晨我都与鸟儿有一个约会。约会始于多年前我第一次遇见我女婿的母亲的时候,她是一位大屠杀幸存者。当时在以色列,面包非常便宜,因为政府有高额补贴。只要当天的面包没吃完,很多人随手就把面包丢弃。亲家母对我讲,当年在奥斯维辛集中营,一片面包皮都能改变一个人的生死。她总是恳求邻居把丢弃的面包留给她,以便拿到街上去喂驴。

亲家母的话让我难以忘怀,从那之后再也没扔掉一片面包。可我居住的地方没有驴,我便决定去喂鸟儿。每天清晨,我都把面包皮或陈面包放到我家的后阳台上,一年中的大部分时间,只要天气晴朗,我们都在那儿吃早饭。现在,鸟儿每天都会飞过来,和我们一起共进早餐。早上6点,已有一两只小鸟等候在我家阳台下面的树枝上,它们已经和我很熟络了。随着啾啾几声鸣叫,不一会儿,便会从周围的树上飞来30来只、或许更多的各种各样的鸟儿,等待享用它们的早餐。

从阅读中,我得知每年有470多种鸟儿光临以色列。这样一个狭小的地理空间竟能吸引如此之多的鸟儿,这在世界上恐怕绝无仅有。这要归功于以色列独特的地理位置。以色列位于欧亚非三大洲的交界处,处在欧亚鸟群迁徙的一条重要通道上,是连接地中海和阿拉伯沙漠的惟一一个大陆桥。每年秋天,鸟群经由以色列飞往南方一直到达非洲;次年春天,这些鸟儿又经由此地向北飞回到欧洲和亚洲。

但我的这些鸟儿们大多不是匆匆的过客,而是留鸟,无论寒暑,它们每天都会飞到我的阳台上。一种体型小巧的棕色小鸟叫鹪鹩,它们每天清晨等着我打开阳台的门,然后为同伴通风报信。而它们自己却吃得很少,有时仅仅是几粒面包屑,要么站在阳台上吞食,要么衔回隐蔽在附近树上的窝里享用。接着飞过来的是数只麻雀,麻雀在觅食的时候喜欢呼朋唤友、成群结队。幸运的话,还会飞来一只百灵,并在吃完早餐后为我献上一曲感恩之歌。

斑鸠很快也会飞来,它们要一直待到夏末。我喜欢听斑鸠那低沉的咕咕叫声。去年,一对斑鸠在我书房的窗台上筑了个窝,产下3枚蛋。斑鸠妈妈趴在窝里孵蛋,她的另一半则按时给她衔食回来(正像每一位称职的丈夫都应该做的)。我每天都在等待、观察,直到三个小斑鸠破壳而出。整整一个夏季,我没有打开过书房的窗子,惟恐它们受到惊吓飞走。可小斑鸠最终还是学会了飞翔,一去不返。但愿它们会记得这里,重新回来筑窝。

在面包旁,我还会放上一盆清水。鸟儿们也很欣赏此举——不是喝水,就是干脆落到水里去洗个澡。到目前为止,造访过我家阳台最稀有的鸟是一只红喉鹨,我在一本书里看到它的照片从而认出了它。这只红喉鹨身长约15厘米,翼展27厘米,喉咙和胸部皆呈赤褐色。红喉鹨来自于斯堪的纳维亚半岛的北部,它往往在某一个冬季的早上突然出现,而其后的几个月,它又踪迹皆无,直到第二年春天它才再度出现。我不知道它是不是同一只鸟,可我宁愿这样认为,它是因感受到我的热情,才记住了我家的阳台。

请在自己的家里专门留出一块地方去亲近自然,比如养鸟、弄花、种草,它最能怡人性情。无论你的家里面多么典雅、舒适,在阳台上给自己留出一个地方,时常来这里俯看一下花园,或远眺一下绿树(若是自家没有花园的话)。在这里,你可以远离尘嚣与纷扰,找到一份美丽与宁静。

BREAKFAST WITH THE BIRDS

By Dvora Waysman

My morning rendezvous with the birds on the balcony of my home in Jerusalem, began many years ago, when I first met my son-in-law's mother, a Holocaust survivor. At the time, bread was highly subsidized in Israel, very cheap and many people threw it out when it became a day old.She told me how a crust of bread often meant the difference between life and death in Auschwitz and she would beg her neighbors to give her what they didn't want. She would take the bread down the street where there were donkeys, and she'd feed it to them.

There are no donkeys around my home, but I never forgot her words, and since then could never throw away a piece of bread. So I decided to feed the birds, putting out the crusts and stale slices every morning on my back balcony where ,for most of the year, when it's sunny, we eat breakfast and now the birds come and breakfast with us every day.At 6 a.m., there are one or two sitting in the branches of a tree below our balcony.They know me now - they twitter a few notes, and soon there are thirty or more different birds coming from surrounding trees, waiting to partake of their breakfast.

I have read that there are 470 species of birds that visit Israel through the seasons - very few regions in the world can boast of so great a variety within such a small geographical area. The reason for this wealth of birdlife is that we are situated at the meeting-point of three continents Europe, Asia and Africa. Israel is also located along one of migration routes of Eurasian birds, forming almost the only land bridge between the Mediterranean and the Arabian deserts. Birds visit on their way south to Africa in the autumn and back north again to Europe and Asia in the spring.

I don't think many of my birds are visitors, because they come back every day no matter what the weather, so they must be mostly resident birds. The little brown birds that send a message to the others, as they watch for me to open the door to my balcony every morning are wrens. Each one takes a tiny portion - sometimes just a few crumbs - and either eats it on the ledge or flies back with a piece in its mouth to a nest hidden in some nearby tree. Then come a few sparrows, which seem to congregate in flocks and like each other's company while they dine. If I'm lucky, a lark will come, and sing me a song of gratitudeafter his breakfast.

The turtledoves should be arriving soon and will stay until the summer is over.I love to hear their deep-throated cooing.Last year they made a nest on the ledge outside my study.They laid three eggs.The mother sat on them, and her mate brought her food regularly in his beak (as a good husband should). I watched every day for the eggs to hatch and finally they did.I didn't open my study window all summer for fear of frightening them away, but they soon learned to fly and were gone.I am hoping they will remember and come to nest again.

Near the bread, I also put out a container of water, and many of them appreciate this - either to drink, or they land right in it and have a bath.The most unusual bird that has come to visit so far, I identified through a picture in a book as a red-throated pipit. It is about 15 centimeters in length with a wingspan of 27 centimeters. The throat is russet brown and so is the breast.I found out that it comes from northern Scandinavia, and it turned up one winter morning.Then it disappeared for a few months and came back in the spring.I don't know if it was the same one, but I like to think it was, that it had enjoyed my hospitality and remembered my balcony.

It is very therapeutic to make a special place in your home where you can enjoy nature, whether it be birdlife, flowers or herbs. No matter how elegant or comfortable the interior, make a spot on a balcony where you can overlook a garden or trees if you don't have your own.There you will find beauty and stillness, free from noise and distractions.[译自美国《犹太报》]