I see Hooded Orioles around the garden in spring and summer. Yesterday I found what appears to be an Oriole's nest. It's a masterpiece of construction masquerading as a blob of dryer lint.
It was just inside the outer edge of a Syzygium paniculatum. I thought it was just a mass of plant material that had gotten lodged into a branch. Nope!
The cavity is filled with feather down.
A tiny feather someone left behind. Mom?
It's intricately woven of moss and grass using a superstructure of, yes, Samoyed hair.
Boris says "You're welcome!"
The weaving is really amazing. Pictures can't show it. And the entire nest is as soft as, well, as soft as Natasha.
Natasha says "Zzzzzz."
It's finally cooling off a bit, enough to garden again after not being able to for so long. I planted three more Calocephalus brownii in the empty area above where the blooming Agaves were/still are. It's the start of the revamp of that area.
The new Calocephalus will grow and balance out the existing ones on the other side of the central Agave augustifolia clump. Calocephalus is not a long-lived plant, a few years at most. I love their silvery color and wiry texture so much, I can live with their temporary nature.
Lady Mantis has moved from a yellow rose to a red rose, and her boyfriends are still missing.
Not as soft as an Oriole's nest, she.
It was just inside the outer edge of a Syzygium paniculatum. I thought it was just a mass of plant material that had gotten lodged into a branch. Nope!
The cavity is filled with feather down.
A tiny feather someone left behind. Mom?
It's intricately woven of moss and grass using a superstructure of, yes, Samoyed hair.
Boris says "You're welcome!"
The weaving is really amazing. Pictures can't show it. And the entire nest is as soft as, well, as soft as Natasha.
Natasha says "Zzzzzz."
It's finally cooling off a bit, enough to garden again after not being able to for so long. I planted three more Calocephalus brownii in the empty area above where the blooming Agaves were/still are. It's the start of the revamp of that area.
The new Calocephalus will grow and balance out the existing ones on the other side of the central Agave augustifolia clump. Calocephalus is not a long-lived plant, a few years at most. I love their silvery color and wiry texture so much, I can live with their temporary nature.
Lady Mantis has moved from a yellow rose to a red rose, and her boyfriends are still missing.
Not as soft as an Oriole's nest, she.
NIce find -- I've never seen an oriole, let alone one of their nests. A lot nicer than the sticks and poop nest of the finches! :-)
ReplyDeleteFinches are sweet, tho...
DeleteWhat a great nest. The care and skill with which bids build their nests always amazes me! So sweet!
ReplyDeleteCraftsmanship on it was unbelievable, all done with a beak...
DeleteNatasha and Boris are so cute, that nest looks so soft.
ReplyDeleteThe nest is incredibly soft, like a cashmere sweater. Quite amazing!
DeleteSoft soft soft. How pretty, in a wabi sabi way.
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by those Calocephalus, but they probably won't grow here. Lady Mantis may be around for a good while digesting after that big meal.
Wabi sabi..."Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes."
DeleteYes, exactly!
....it is a really nice specimen..All my vacated nests i take into the house and and place them in a skeletom tree in my dinig room....you should hang it on the front porch
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea! I did put one nest into a wreath. I think it was a Mockingbird's. Your tree of nests must be very cool!
DeleteBeautiful nest! Don't you love surprises like that in the gardens. Those Calocephalus are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIt was a delightful surprise indeed, and I felt quite lucky to have found it and examined the amazing work that went into it...
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