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8 October 2026
There is a bird that spends an extraordinary amount of time decorating a house it may never live in.
It is the bowerbird.
The male builds a structure called a bower—not really a nest, but a kind of stage. Then comes the decoration.
Flowers. Leaves. Shells. Feathers. Stones. Berries. Anything that catches his eye.
And he does not simply throw things around.
He arranges them.
Some species even collect objects of particular colours and carefully place them around the bower. The whole display is meant to attract a female.
Think about that for a moment.
A bird spends hours collecting little things from the world and arranging them beautifully, hoping that someone will notice.
It sounds strangely familiar.
Perhaps nature has been quietly telling us for a very long time that beauty is sometimes created not because it is necessary, but because someone hopes another pair of eyes will appreciate it.
And perhaps that is not such a bad reason to make something beautiful.
Rajat Chandra Sarmah, Guwahati, Assam, India, Instagram @rajatchandrasarmah, YouTube: conversewithasmile, email rajatchandrasarmah@gmail.com
