The scene was gruesome. Sunday’s storm had destroyed their home. Remnants of what used to be their lives were strewn across the yard.

Parents were desperately searching for their young, calling a mournful cry.

Pieces of eggshell, nest, and tree bark told the story.

What was a nest inside a hollow part of a large tree in the 300 block of North Locust, Marion, now was carnage. At least four eggs were on the ground, not all broken, but most shattered, revealing the eggs were close to maturity. One egg clung to a piece of bark, still in the tree, but now exposed to the weather and humans.

Overhead two birds were circling the site, calling out. One bird went inside the tree, as if to check one more time, to make sure there was not an egg somehow spared. The second bird was busy gathering sticks and leaves in a desperate attempt to rebuild a nest.

It is easy to forget nature’s victims.

Nature is cruel and heartless. Picking up the unbroken eggs and putting them in an incubator was not an option. Unfortunately, there was not anything anyone could do but to respect and acknowledge that sometimes, we humans, are not as powerful as we think.

We have all of the intelligence and science on our side but when it comes down to it, there are times we are powerless, just like the family of birds that lost their home and young.

Humbling, isn’t it?

— susan berg