Grey Fantail

The Grey Fantail was one of the birds that welcomed me into the bird world.

I was lucky to live next to a forest during the 2020 lockdown. I spent countless hours out there, and very often, this flittering little grey bird seemed to find me, and follow me. I soon discovered it was a Grey Fantail.

It had an excited and erratic flight, like it were playing some game in the air. Upon research, I learnt that they "hunt on the wing", chasing and catching bugs in mid-air. And they love following around other animals that stir up bugs as they walk. It seemed that I'd become the other animal!

In the following months, we developed a lovely little partnership, where each time it came to find me, I would shake a couple of bushes to stir up the bugs, treating it like a customer at my forest cafe. "How would you like your bugs today sir, scrambled? Bugs Benedict?".

This relationship brought me so much joy, and the bird so much nutrition. It was a reciprocal relationship. The Grey Fantail taught me the value of seeking help. And that seeking help can lead to connection and togetherness.

Life isn't easy, and if we struggle to keep up an image of individual success and happiness, it will only get harder. There's no harm in asking for help, trusting that with the right intention, we'll be able to find reciprocity with those who help us. And trusting our time will come to help others.

Do you need help with something? Do you feel comfortable asking for help, or do you feel awkward and unsure?

The Grey Fantail reminds us to take help, and give help, whenever we have the capacity to do so. We are all in this together.