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 of construction, and didn't yet have the structure of the walls filled in. We saw the birds going back and forth, bringing more lichen and adding it from the inside.

Bushtit nest under construction

Bushtit at the top of the nest (through binoculars)

We only saw pairs working together, but sometimes other bushtits from the flock help with nest-building and rearing of young - another hygge touch. 

Great blue herons take the idea of togetherness to another level. Marymoor Park also has a heron rookery where dozens of the lanky birds nest communally in a stand of cottonwood trees. Building nests close together helps to deter predators.

Great blue heron rookery

Great blue heron rookery

It's wonderful to watch the heron dinosaurs flying over, landing awkwardly on the slender branches, and occasionally honking and scuffling. These platform nests made of sticks don't appear very hygge, perhaps, but for the herons, at least in the springtime, they are home.