little feathered family...

That day a couple of weeks ago, when  I reported being so industrious in the yard I'd even got out the ladder to try to drag some leaves off the roof.  Getting the ladder into position, to not be dangerously wobbly, climbing up nearly to the top (only six feet, but at the top, still anxiety-inducing). A balancing act, holding the rake to reach as far onto the roof as possible and pull off accumulated leaves out of the valley and off to let the shingles dry.

When I was around the back, where there are a number of windows in a row, I saw a ??? what is that??? Bird Nest! Stuck up on the side of the house - literally! How do they do that? Amazing! There is no noticeable overhang, that it could be propped up above the edge of the window frame. Nothing for a house-builder to perch on to get a grip and start construction. Just a space a hand-span between the windows, and above the window frame.

That little nest, made of mud and moss, and little pieces of straw poking out, could have been constructed by an engineer. When I realized what I was looking at, I looked down along the edge of the foundation, and saw lots of wee bits of green, soft, springy pieces of moss, that were either not satisfactory, and were discarded. Or dropped  as the house builders were gluing the pieces together. I was so (nosy) intrigued by the remarkable project, I got off the ladder and went in the house to get a mirror to try to peer over the edge of the nest.

It's so close to the underside of the roof (don't know what you call that part of the building, up high under the eaves), even with my mirror I could not see inside. I had the mirror up against the house, and could not get my head up there, due to the slant of the roof, to be able to tell if there was anything in the nest.  So not only is she a clever designer and sub-contractor, but she outsmarted the person with the ladder and mirror who just wanted to observe this particular rite of spring.

I am sure it will be a mess when it's time to knock it down, with all the mud she used to secure it up there. But it is a fascinating construction and really remarkable to think that it is so well-built and placed, suspended up there on the side of the house. As surely as if she had a tube of superglue!