Comments on: Birds’ Nests–Small Miracles

By: April

April — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:38:44 +0000

Judy, you can email this or any page to a friend. Just open the email that came to you, the email with the link to this piece. Then just forward the whole email. You can add a message or not, but your friend should be able to open the link to the piece.

By: Judy

Judy — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:31:20 +0000

well, now I found it. How can I email this page to my friend???

By: April

April — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:57:03 +0000

Interesting. I know what you mean, Judy, about seeing our lack of consciousness reflected in birds’ nests. I remember once seeing a piece of pink ribbon woven into a nest. I remember having mixed feelings. On the one hand, I thought the whole nest should be ‘natural.’ On the other hand, the little stretch of shiny pink looked kind of pretty in the nest!

By: Judy

Judy — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:17:16 +0000

A lovely and interesting article. I wonder whether birds’ nests were the original inspiration
for woven baskets? In the Sonoran Desert, I have observed many nests close-up, in mesquite and palo verde trees and in cactus. The cactus wren builds a very messy-looking nest. Often they contain bits of toilet paper and candy wrappers and junk mail and whatever humans have carelessly discarded. I always feel a bit sad when I see these remnants of our carelessness.

By: April

April — Tue, 27 May 2008 22:39:43 +0000

Interesting. I wonder if the nest had been not a human-made nest but a bird-made one, whether the baby bird would have gotten caught in it. Is this an example of birds doing what they do so much better than we could do for them? How fortunate that you were there to rescue the little hummer, which I understand are pretty unbelievably tiny.

By: JJ Bodine

JJ Bodine — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:14:52 +0000

This reminds me very much of my encounter with a hummingbird caught by its (gender indeterminate, perhaps too young) claw in an artificially constructed nest at my in-laws. I was able to disentangle and free the tiny one, but had to marvel at how they avoid such entanglements in their own nexts!

By: April

April — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:52:21 +0000

Thanks, Todd. Interesting that once you were actually looking for birds’ nests, you saw some. I rarely see a nest in a tree; most of the nests I’ve seen close-up have been nests that have fallen to the ground. Birds are so expert at hiding when they want to hide. For example, I have been contemplating the house finches I watch every day at our feeder. I never see them at night. Where do they go? Where do they sleep? Where are their nests? I’ve never seen one.

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:44:12 +0000

Hi April,
Inspired by your piece on bird nests, on my walk today I paid attention for them. Found some old ones, but the new ones are too well hidden to be seen from a casual walk along a suburban sreet. I did spot one little bird house with a wren happily singing around it.