Alas... After much contemplation, I tackled the trimming back of my fire bush hedge in the very front of my house against the street. It had grown to a good 7 feet! (2 meters), and was blocking my ability to see oncoming traffic and pedestrians when I backed out of my driveway. Not that I live on a busy street--so the urgency was really more my own. It never occured to me to first scrutinize the bushes for signs of life.
Half of the way through my self-assigned task, I pulled back a branch just cut and what to my surprise and a little horror did I see? This perfectly fashioned bird's nest! Oh my, what have I done? Before I could even relax to admire it's engineering genius, I scanned the ground for eggs. None. I thought back to the immediate past: had I heard any hatchlings? Had any adult birds been showing any interesting in my endeavor? No. Okay, so it was probably an old nest. No harm, no fowl--pun intended!
And isn't it a beauty? A bottom layer constructed from the supple thin branches of my River Birch and the contorted tips from the leaf-clusters of the Norway Maple. This woven around with a long found piece of synthetic ribbon like the kind that comes on those large sacks of rice. To this foundation an inner bed made of fine straw and grass perfect to cup the precious treasure that was deposited and nurtured there. You have to give credit where credit is due.
In consultation with friends who know better than I about these things, it's probably the work of my local Cardinals. Though we weren't completely ruling out the Catbirds, either. Other thoughts welcome.
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