Getting Hygge
Warm spring weather means that it's time for us to get outside. For birds, however, it's time to get cozy. When you think of birds nesting, you might picture something like this: Bird nest that has fallen or been removed from a tree (we found it on the ground like this) Some birds are way more hygge than that, though. At Marymoor Park in Redmond, WA this week, we were lucky to spot two different pairs of bushtits building nests. Bushtits are adorable round birds with long tails. In the winter, they travel in large flocks, searching for tiny insects and spiders. In spring, they pair off and build a long, sock-like nest primarily out of moss and lichen with an entrance hole at the top. It's like a soft, cozy sleeping bag for the four to ten eggs the female will lay. In fact, ten nestlings in this little moss sack might take the whole hygge concept to a bit of an extreme. Bushtit nest that appeared almost complete The second bushtit nest we found was in an earlier phase ...