An Oriole's Nest, Maybe

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. 
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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!
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The cavity is filled with feather down.
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A tiny feather someone left behind.  Mom? 
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It's intricately woven of moss and grass using a superstructure of, yes, Samoyed hair.
Boris says "You're welcome!"
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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."
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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.  
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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.
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Lady Mantis has moved from a yellow rose to a red rose, and her boyfriends are still missing.
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Not as soft as an Oriole's nest, she.    
 

Comments

  1. 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! :-)

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  2. What a great nest. The care and skill with which bids build their nests always amazes me! So sweet!

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    1. Craftsmanship on it was unbelievable, all done with a beak...

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  3. Natasha and Boris are so cute, that nest looks so soft.

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    1. The nest is incredibly soft, like a cashmere sweater. Quite amazing!

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  4. Soft soft soft. How pretty, in a wabi sabi way.
    I'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.

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    1. 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."

      Yes, exactly!

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  5. ....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

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    1. Interesting idea! I did put one nest into a wreath. I think it was a Mockingbird's. Your tree of nests must be very cool!

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  6. Beautiful nest! Don't you love surprises like that in the gardens. Those Calocephalus are beautiful!

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    1. It 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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