我與小鳥共進早餐

朵拉·維茨曼

在耶路撒冷我家的陽臺上,每天早晨我都與鳥兒有一個約會。約會始于多年前我第一次遇見我女婿的母親的時候,她是一位大屠殺幸存者。當時在以色列,面包非常便宜,因為政府有高額補貼。只要當天的面包沒吃完,很多人隨手就把面包丟棄。親家母對我講,當年在奧斯維辛集中營,一片面包皮都能改變一個人的生死。她總是懇求鄰居把丟棄的面包留給她,以便拿到街上去喂驢。

親家母的話讓我難以忘懷,從那之后再也沒扔掉一片面包。可我居住的地方沒有驢,我便決定去喂鳥兒。每天清晨,我都把面包皮或陳面包放到我家的后陽臺上,一年中的大部分時間,只要天氣晴朗,我們都在那兒吃早飯。現在,鳥兒每天都會飛過來,和我們一起共進早餐。早上6點,已有一兩只小鳥等候在我家陽臺下面的樹枝上,它們已經和我很熟絡了。隨著啾啾幾聲鳴叫,不一會兒,便會從周圍的樹上飛來30來只、或許更多的各種各樣的鳥兒,等待享用它們的早餐。

從閱讀中,我得知每年有470多種鳥兒光臨以色列。這樣一個狹小的地理空間竟能吸引如此之多的鳥兒,這在世界上恐怕絕無僅有。這要歸功于以色列獨特的地理位置。以色列位于歐亞非三大洲的交界處,處在歐亞鳥群遷徙的一條重要通道上,是連接地中海和阿拉伯沙漠的惟一一個大陸橋。每年秋天,鳥群經由以色列飛往南方一直到達非洲;次年春天,這些鳥兒又經由此地向北飛回到歐洲和亞洲。

但我的這些鳥兒們大多不是匆匆的過客,而是留鳥,無論寒暑,它們每天都會飛到我的陽臺上。一種體型小巧的棕色小鳥叫鷦鷯,它們每天清晨等著我打開陽臺的門,然后為同伴通風報信。而它們自己卻吃得很少,有時僅僅是幾粒面包屑,要么站在陽臺上吞食,要么銜回隱蔽在附近樹上的窩里享用。接著飛過來的是數只麻雀,麻雀在覓食的時候喜歡呼朋喚友、成群結隊。幸運的話,還會飛來一只百靈,并在吃完早餐后為我獻上一曲感恩之歌。

斑鳩很快也會飛來,它們要一直待到夏末。我喜歡聽斑鳩那低沉的咕咕叫聲。去年,一對斑鳩在我書房的窗臺上筑了個窩,產下3枚蛋。斑鳩媽媽趴在窩里孵蛋,她的另一半則按時給她銜食回來(正像每一位稱職的丈夫都應該做的)。我每天都在等待、觀察,直到三個小斑鳩破殼而出。整整一個夏季,我沒有打開過書房的窗子,惟恐它們受到驚嚇飛走。可小斑鳩最終還是學會了飛翔,一去不返。但愿它們會記得這里,重新回來筑窩。

在面包旁,我還會放上一盆清水。鳥兒們也很欣賞此舉——不是喝水,就是干脆落到水里去洗個澡。到目前為止,造訪過我家陽臺最稀有的鳥是一只紅喉鷚,我在一本書里看到它的照片從而認出了它。這只紅喉鷚身長約15厘米,翼展27厘米,喉嚨和胸部皆呈赤褐色。紅喉鷚來自于斯堪的納維亞半島的北部,它往往在某一個冬季的早上突然出現,而其后的幾個月,它又蹤跡皆無,直到第二年春天它才再度出現。我不知道它是不是同一只鳥,可我寧愿這樣認為,它是因感受到我的熱情,才記住了我家的陽臺。

請在自己的家里專門留出一塊地方去親近自然,比如養鳥、弄花、種草,它最能怡人性情。無論你的家里面多么典雅、舒適,在陽臺上給自己留出一個地方,時常來這里俯看一下花園,或遠眺一下綠樹(若是自家沒有花園的話)。在這里,你可以遠離塵囂與紛擾,找到一份美麗與寧靜。

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.[譯自美國《猶太報》]