Nine Birds, One Stone

Our water boy likes animals.  He takes good care of Bwino when we are out of town and was an doting godfather to Diana's seven newborn puppies.  He also loves birds, we discovered, and will gladly bring us half of the forest if we express any interest (whatsoever) in seeing them up close.  Last week, he delivered nine songbirds directly to our front porch.  All nine were fluttering upside-down and tied to a string.  

How did a fifteen-year-old boy manage to catch nine songbirds in less than an hour?  His method went a little something like this:

1.  Collect tree sap in a large metal bucket 

2.  Boil sap until it become thick and glue-like

3.  Coat a stick with the home-made glue

4.  Tie the stick to a branch near the top of a tall tree

5.  Wait and pluck the birds off of the stick, one by one

I took a few pictures and asked Seni what he was planning to do with the birds in the future.  

"I'm going to eat them," he said.  

Apparently, the little birds can be plucked and roasted, just like chicken.  

"I just like catching them," he admitted, swinging the stick around on our veranda. The birds flapped frantically and tangled themselves on the line. "It's other people that like to eat them."

Seni shows several songbirds...

...stuck to a stick