With the winter-that-more-or-less-wasn't nearly behind us here in flyover country, I think it is not too early to consider spring and the explosion of life we can expect to see in the coming weeks and months. The forest at Roundrock will fill with birdsong as mating and nesting begin and the rearing of broods soon follows. I've always had a fondness for bird nests. They seem like such unlikely creations and yet are so perfect in function. Of course there are all kinds of nests, ranging from the bare scrapings in the leaf litter of turkeys to the complicated woven nests of orioles. The tiny but snug nests of hummingbirds may last for years while the giant and ungainly stick platforms of bald eagles may last for decades. Belted kingfishers nest deep underground while woodpeckers nest high within trees. Birds may share nests or steal them. The cowbird will make no nest while the robin may build half a dozen. Bluebirds might nest in boxes I have set out for them while the whippoorwill will drag her wing in feigned wounding to draw me away from her ground nest. Every bit of this is fascinating to me. I generally do not find nests until they've been long abandoned and the autumn leaves have fallen. Often these nests are tattered and wispy. At least one of the nests pictured above came from the branches of a fallen tree. I would have missed it otherwise. There is an area of scrub around the fire ring at Fallen Timbers that is apparently filled with nests no more than a foot or two off the ground. I can't see these nests until the winter, and then I am astonished to find that so many were all around me through the spring and summer. The season of nest building for most birds has nearly arrived in Missouri. The birds will do what they have done for millions of years, driven by hormones, guided by instinct, and perfected by practice. I'll be in the forest then, but with luck I'll never see them and the wonder of it all can continue undisturbed.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 at 1:52 am and is filed under Critters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.