As the snowy weather hinted at its arrival, the wind had roared all night pushing and shoving the big trees outside my window. The next day as I walked back from the coffee shop (where I drink tea) I noticed this lovely nest on the sidewalk where it had been shook loose from the limbs above.
Each nest is unique but this one even more so. The bird who made this nest recycled! Well, all of nesting material is recycled if you look at it from a bird's point of view. But this bird used plastic zip ties! Isn't the heavier mud and straw outer edge beautiful with the delicate swirls of grasses in the center? I really loved the contrast between the utilitarian plastic ties and the delicate dried hydrangeas she added, maybe as a last decorative touch?
I wonder which bird built the nest? Did I see her going about her chores this summer?
We just experienced our first snow storm so gardening is over for the year. Yet life goes on in the garden. It just switches gears; ideas, objects and processes we didn't see amid all the green noise of growing things become quietly apparent, like the nest.
I am in awe of what I call animal architecture. How do they build it? Where in their mind lies the design? Questions better contemplated on snowy, inside kind of days.
Now that the branches are bare, have you seen any bird nests that leave you marveling at nature's cleverness?
