Going "Broody"

Happy February! It is hard to believe that it is already here. I have not posted as often as I expected, and the reason is, I'm nesting!

Yes, nesting is a big job! In most animals, including human animals, nesting is done in preparation for a new baby! Well, we aren't expecting a baby, but my nesting instinct has been so strong, you would think that we were! I find myself just wanting to be home, organizing and making our new home as comfy and cozy as possible for us. I seem to put off leaving the house until it is absolutely necessary, which isn't normal for me. In the bird world, the term used to describe this insistence on staying in the nest as much as possible, is "Going Broody."

If you have ever watched birds build a nest, you know that it is a lot of work. We watched finches built a nest in our eaves in SoCal. They were in almost constant motion bringing scraps and twigs to their nest from sun up until dusk. They were constantly chattering and making their little bird sounds, and it sounded like they were having the best time "nesting." They came back to that nest for several years, and they always gave it a face lift before they settled in with the big job of keeping their eggs warm. I can really identify with those birds!


As I'm sitting here writing this, I'm watching the birds flying back and forth from the trees to the bird feeders.

 

 

The grey squirrels have been very busy gathering food. There are four that are regular visitors in our yard. They come around first thing in the morning, again around mid-day. They arrive just before dusk for their last meal of the day. After eating, it is really cute to watch them play, jumping from branch, and making their cute little squirrel noises together as they scamper up to their nest.

The squirrels are very aware when I am watching them

You can see how well Squirrely blends into the trees. His tail looks like a bottle brush in the middle of the picture, with his body facing down the branch. He stayed in the position without moving for over 5 minutes, waiting for me to leave so he could go into his nest.

Squirrely is very near his nest, but won't go in when he knows I am watching. We were having a stare down!

I caught the little puff ball just before it went into it's nest

I am feeling the urge to go fluff my nest some more, maybe unload another box or two, or five!