In Which I Attempt to Appreciate Winter

After spending far too many months in skin-bitingly, ear-achingly, breath-seeingly winter, we're done with it. At one point this winter, my car was trapped on ice for two weeks. At a couple of points, my pant legs froze solid as I was walking home from work. At several points, I slipped on ice.

But there are good things about winter too, right? I mean, there couldn't be spring without winter. Many plants cannot thrive unless their dormant bodies are chilled to a certain point in winter (this is called vernalization). So winter's pretty important. Plus there's snow cream (bowl of fresh snow + splash of milk + 1 Tbsp sugar or sweetener + a few drops vanilla = wintry heaven).

And there's always...well, that's about as far as I've ever gotten. Until now. Walking around campus this winter, I've noticed one other benefit of the cold, dark season: visibility. Without leaves on the trees, you can see things like ornate roof designs (see the Loebner magnolia pictures in Campus Smells Spring's Approach) and birds' nests. That's my focus for today because I've found a lot of them.

This tree is near the older buildings on campus. I spied five birds' nests in this one tree. I've never seen so many nests in one tree before!

Looking back at these pictures, I can't see where the fifth nest is, but I know I've seen five. As a plant person, I appreciate birds for their beauty and their tendency to eat and disperse seeds.

The rest of these trees are on my way to work, near a fairly large street. The birds around here are so brave, they wouldn't mind building their homes next to highways. In this first example, notice how the nest is not supported by a fork in the branch. It's just balancing on one branch. I wouldn't want to live on such a precarious perch, but obviously the birds manage.

The best thing about birds' nests is that you can watch the bird family as it grows over the years. This isn't really possible if the nests are in trees covered in foliage, but the empty nests are still nice to see. I have no idea how birds build these suckers. One doesn't think of birds as being particularly dextrous or creative. This nest, at least, seems more stable.

I also don't understand how birds can navigate the thick foliage around their homes or remember exactly where their nests are. That's especially true for the birds living in the tree with five nests.

This was the only nest I managed to capture with a bird around it. The bird is the smooth, round shape just above the nest.

And after I took that shot, she flew off!

So apart from snow cream and preparing plants for spring, birds' nests are about all winter is good for. Are there any other advantages you can think of? Do you enjoy birdwatching when you're out in nature (or in the middle of small cities)?

Thanks for reading.

Next post: the plants that live at my house.