Nature's Protection

Recently I have been trying to walk a small distance on the few days when I have just a bit more energy. It's not far, and it's not level around here, so I get a tiny workout. I've been wiped out when I return, but it is so nice to go out of doors! I have always had an eye for whatever secrets I can discover in nature, so I'm going to share my most recent one.

In a small leafless shrub near the edge of a pasture, I saw a nest left from last breeding season. I went over to look at it and as it was still in pretty good shape, I decided to bring it home. After taking the dead leaves out of the nest, I found another surprise, bits of egg shell!

I have been studying the nest and the colors on the shell and have narrowed it down to a Northern Mockingbird. Usually the outside of the nest appears "thornier", but after all the nest has been around for months through storms and wind. The inside is made of woven rootlets, plant stems and horse hair. Mockingbird's eggs can be shades of blue or green heavily marked with brown spots. They build a nest for each brood and commonly have two broods a season. 

There is a Nature Reserve down the road from us and before I became ill, I used to love to walk through there with the dogs. There is a small pond and the trail goes through woods and clearings, uphill and down. John walks the dogs through there now and tries to bring me something back, because he knows how much I love the small things in nature. The last couple of times, he brought these:

Little cocoons, which were attached to small shrubs. He said they were hard to find (they are 1 to 2 inches long). I just love the textures on these! Don't I have a wonderful husband? I don't know what kind they are, maybe I can find out.

I purchased this book several years ago, and it has been a great help to me. Of course now we have the Internet and you can find pictures of almost any kind of bird's nest and eggs. But it's nice to have a small book handy; we would take this with us when we used to go camping. And someday, if I regain enough of my strength back, we will take it again!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!