A few days ago, on our back deck railing, I noticed something going on behind these leaves.

A bird kept zipping back and forth all day long, to and from this four inch wide railing.  And when I figured out that this bird was building a nest, I couldn’t believe my luck – I was so excited that I was going to get to witness this part of nature taking place right on our deck, just steps away from our family room windows.  BTW, these windows are very large (practically cover an entire wall), perfect for prime viewing.  And I couldn’t help wondering if the little birdie on the other side of this window, looking in, would see Bill, Brook and me like fish in a bowl.  This brought up other thoughts, but I’ll tuck these away for another time. 

Here’s a closer view of what the bird has built.  Can you imagine how many trips it must’ve taken for this bird to gather all of these twigs and grass clippings, one tiny beakful at a time?  And on top of these dry pieces, it appears that the bird used something else that looks like mud to keep everything packed together.  As far as I could tell, this bird worked alone building the nest.  This kind of diligence and commitment is awe-inspiring.

Besides the fact that this bird was able to build this sturdy home all by its lonesome, if you take a closer look you’ll see the amazing sculptural artistry.  The cascading tendrils of twigs absolutely swept my breath away.   And it looks like the bird used a lighter, more whispy-like plant material around the bottom, outer edge.

Here’s a view of the nest’s  interior.   Doesn’t it look so cozy and cocoon-like?  And at the same time it has a light, airy-feel – the open top lets in plenty of sunshine and allows the fresh air to circulate.

And speaking of breathing space, I didn’t want to disturb the bird too much so I tried my best to stay away.  This lasted a whole 4 or 5 hours before I gave in.  After making sure that the bird had gone out  (I saw this from our family room window)  I went back for one more quick visit.  And look at what was nestled inside…a bright, blue, beautiful, teeny-tiny egg!

What an awesome sight to witness.  I wasn’t expecting this at all (can you tell I grew up around the city?)  What else would the nest be for, right?  Anyway, because I spent most of my years as a city girl, I’m really quite behind on my knowledge of nature, but I’m getting there.  Perhaps my inexperience with nature makes me that much more curious and fascinated by it, since I’m literally seeing things for the very first time.  Getting a closer look at the many wonders of nature often inspires me to create tangible objects and art pieces – it’s my way of  showing appreciation.    I’m in such awe of this little, hardworking birdie – I can hardly believe that it accomplished this mighty task by creating this masterpiece all through instinct…now that’s following your gut to the max!

For the past few years I’ve been obsessed with these winged-creatures, and they’ve often been the inspiration behind my various art projects.    For instance, here are some bird figures that I created using Das clay (air-drying clay.)  These pieces were published in a previous issue of Somerset Life.  Within my article, Blissful Adornments, you’ll find the how-to instructions to make these charms.

For the last several weeks I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing nature close-up, and now it’s time to say bye-bye to the little birdies who’ve been keeping me company.   Below is an update detailing what I experienced since this previous post.  

Here’s mama bird sitting patiently on top of her eggs.   She remained posed and alert the entire time as she sat, dutifully guarding her precious eggs. 

BTW, mama bird ended up laying three eggs.

And this little guy was the first one to pop out…poor fella looks pooped!

 Then on the next day came another.   These hungry birdies sure kept mama busy. 

 I was so pleased to see that the last one had hatched as well…and don’t they look so cute all snuggled on top of one another?  I was surprised to learn how much sleep they needed.  And if they weren’t sleeping, they seemed to constantly want to eat (anytime they heard me nearby their beaks would open up widely, with heads tilted back and bopping around excitedly, waiting for morsels of nourishment.)  I tried to stay away as much as possible so that mama bird could feed them without interruption.

After all that eating and sleeping they quickly grew.

And look how much they grew in only about a week’s time – so much so that they could barely fit into their nest…what a tight squeeze!

And then about 2 days later, they all left – I suppose they simply flew away.  I have to guess what happened since I didn’t get to witness their actual flight, but had I known that this was going to happen so quickly, I would’ve paid closer attention.  It’s been several days since they left and I keep looking at their empty nest, wishing they’d come back for a visit.  However, so far there’s been no action…perhaps they’ve left for good.  I’m feeling sad (more than I would’ve expected) that they’re gone, but it was still wonderful having them here.  Watching mother nature unfold so close-up was magical and I’m very thankful to have had this opportunity.  What’s been happening in your neck of the woods?