As a little girl in the 70s, I was glued to the TV for the weekly episode of The Waltons. In an early Christmas special, Elizabeth brought a bird's nest home to decorate their Christmas tree.I was adamant to do the same. The abandoned nest I found that year as far as I know is still in the Christmas decorations box at the Dixon Farm. It was perfectly nestled in the Y of a small lilac branch that was low enough for an 8-year old to snap off and claim as her treasure.
I can't resist these perfectly constructed mini homes, so round and unique in materials. The nests I would see on our farm were threaded with red, black and grey horsetail hairs, plucked or found by those clever birds who hung out near the barn and our two horses. Now that my husband and I make our home "in town," as we call it, the construction is equally unique - parts of plastic baggies and newsprint are recycled by our feathered friends to new building materials of the nests we find out an about our little postage stamp yard.
When nesting season is over, I'll usually adopt an abandoned nest and tuck it on a shelf for a bit. Last summer I turned one into a mini planter for an impatiens -- the nest becoming a beautiful container with natural drainage for watering. My photographs show my love of incorporating little nests and birds into my decorating, at Christmastime and year round, doing a little nesting of my own.
About 2 weeks ago, I saw my two mourning doves who have nested on our home for 3 of the past 4 years. They were fat with feathers fluffed out, weathering some light snow, but I know they were scouting out their 2011 nest location. Their soft coos become a part of our morning sounds of home at the Heaths.
This year, I have something special in store for them: I am going to scatter some snips of colored fibers, to see if any of them are claimed by the bird-weavers, like those horse hairs were back in the Elizabeth Walton days at home. Stay tuned on this one!
