Ecology, tenderly

Painting and Story by Winifred Ramsay

I saw two rainbow lorikeets in the tree at the top of the yard. This tree had hard brown pods, and one had opened. They were both standing on the branch next to the pod. One of them would reach into the pod and pull out the seed. It was a flat round seed encased in a piece of translucent paper-like material.  The lorikeet would give the seed to the other lorikeet, who would nibble at it and then let it go, and it would float down like a large snowflake through the yard. Then it would take one for itself, then it would give another one to its mate. They did that until the pod was empty. What a lovely partnership, I thought. Ecology, tenderly.