Artfully Nested

Alas, the leaves in our woodland have fallen for the most part. A few stalwart oaks in the gorge have retained their russet foliage, but our early November footfalls were muffled this weekend by the soothing presence of deep rustling drifts of fallen leaves in red, burgundy, lemony yellow and bronze. The sound the fallen leaves made as we pottered along through them was wonderful.

Yesterday, I wandered about looking up into the bare trees for nests, and here is the first one of the season, an exquisite vireo construction woven out of birch bark, small twigs, spider silk, the fibers of abandoned cocoons and strands of grass. This was probably the nest of a Red-eyed Vireo, a species known to use a lot of birch bark in building its nests and to favor younger trees for its creations. There were a number of these delicate birds residing in the Two Hundred Acre Wood this year, and their cheery whistling songs were delightful to hear. (One of my winter projects for this year is to learn more about the voices of the summer birds in our woods, so that I can identify them without seeing them.)

The nest was high in a small birch tree, and it was dancing about in the wind with great gusto. My photo does not begin to do the nest justice, but clicking on the image takes you to a larger image - one which gives a better idea of how elegant and complex these structures are. Vireos are splendid architects and truly artful builders, and every single nest I have ever found has been a wonder.