Nest
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A Nest Of Love

Most nests are made so they are hard to crawl out of, mother birds are very intelligent that way they don’t want their precious little hatchlings to crawl over the side and go tumbling to the ground where they become some prowling, nocturnal cat snack. My mother bird puts our nest together snug and warm, in a similar fashion. I am just the opposite though, the older I get the harder I find it is to crawl over the edge. Many times I will just lie in bed for hours. I realize when I do go over the edge, I won’t be flying I will be making a zig-zag dizzy patterned walk to the restroom.

The stories of young adults leaving the nest, or not, could be material for one or two novels.

We had a wood duck build her nest in one of our old chimneys, it wasn’t being used. I never did see her coming or going but she had her babies hatched inside of that chimney. She carried a whole bunch of straw to make her nest. The straw was down inside, about a foot below the chimney top. When her babies hatched they had to crawl up to the top of that chimney, without flying feathers. The cute little baby ducks rolled down the roof, out of the drain pipe then landed on the ground by our kitchen window.

A big; wise old mother cat was smiling like she thought she was getting snacks from cat heaven delivered right to her. She had one duckling in her mouth and was trying to grab another one when I ran around the corner. I managed to scoop up 6 little babies, then tried to carry them to a pond that was about a block away from our house. It’s hard to carry six little squirming ducks. I would drop two, pick up one, drop another all the way to the pond, while the other cats thought I was dropping ducks for them, there must have been at least ten starting the race.

I have always thought I understood what a nest was, then at my advanced age find out, I don’t know my Nest from a hole in the ground. That is why I have decided to share the following information about nests.

“A nest is a structure built by certain animals to hold eggs, offspring, and, occasionally, the animal itself. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves, or maybe a simple depression in the ground, or a hole in a rock, tree, or building. Human-made materials, such as string, plastic, cloth, or paper, may also be used. Nests can be found in all types of habitat.
Nest building is driven by a biological urge known as the nesting instinct in birds and mammals. Generally, each species has a distinctive style of nest. Nest complexity is roughly correlated with the level of parental care by adults. Nest building is considered a key adaptive advantage among birds, and they exhibit the most variation in their nests ranging from simple holes in the ground to elaborate communal nests hosting hundreds of individuals. Nests of prairie dogs and several social insects can host millions of individuals.” Nest

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