When people stayed home …
When people stayed home during lockdown, birds came out of their hiding places and explored the world. In urban areas, where before they had been scarce, birds flocked together and enjoyed a space without fear.
Some birds, after years of singing the same tune, altered their songs. The change was almost immediate, as if they had been waiting, all along, for this moment. Others grew quiet, no longer needing to scream above noise, and a few sang entirely new melodies.
Freedom. At last.
Of course, when people emerged from their isolation, when society returned to how it had been, many of the birds retreated. Accepted defeat. Forgot their new songs and returned to their old ones.
But not all of them.
Some birds were changed forever.