While we were at Deltaville, I was enjoying a good cigar on the back deck when I saw a mockingbird fly into a small bush about 20 feet away. He hopped from limb to limb, pecking at things. At first, I thought he was finding a berry or two from last summer, but after a minute or so, the mockingbird reached into the bush and snapped off a two-inch twig, secured it in his mouth and flew off. The mockingbird was in process of building a nest.
It is fascinating to see birds construct a nest. They are intricately woven, deftly engineered to withstand wind and rain and they do it with no arms or hands – just a beak.
The twig that mockingbird ultimately decided on may have had some resin or stickiness which he used to hold the nest together. Mockingbirds typically build nests in a dense shrub or tree, some 3-10 ft above the ground. Their nests have a bulky foundation of twigs supporting an open cup of weeds, grass, leaves, lined with fine material such as rootlets, moss, animal hair, and plant down. The male builds most of the foundation, and the female adds most of the lining.
Our backyard bluebirds are extraordinary nest-builders, and they can complete the job in just a couple days. They gather pine needles and soft leaves and grasses to house their 3 or 4 chicks. My bluebirds have already selected a nesting box in our yard, and I suspect the nest is ready for egg-laying, which should soon be underway.
To think they do all this right after a long winter of little food and severe conditions, yet they are strong enough to endure the rigors of reproduction. As I said – fascinating, indeed.
