Sir E.C. Buck says:--"I found a nest at Huttoo, near Narkhunda, date 27th June, 1869, on an almost inaccessible crag overhanging a torrent. It contained three eggs, but two were broken by stones falling in climbing down to the nest. Nest not brought up; one egg secured and forwarded. I saw the bird wel l, and have no doubt as to its identity."
My fascination with bird's nests continues...Being a bird lover I am attracted to wings, feathers, nests, eggs, flight - The nests remind me of nurturing and warmth given by a mother to her young. This Spring a Cardinal has made her nest in my rose arbor - a small thing that I was so delighted with that I felt so lucky that this family chose my garden for their home. It's closer to the ground than I would ever have imagined that they would select for their nest.
Creating nests from different types of wire is a reoccuring theme with me and these nests are my latest. I really love the look of the black wire and pearls - a sort of opposites - something raw and basic with something sublime.
I made the cords extra long so that the nests dangle low. The cords are adjustable so they can also be cinched up for shorter lengths as well.
Miss Cockburn says:--"A nest of this bird was found on the 22nd of March in a hole in a tree situated in a wood at a height of about 40 feet from the ground. Two bamboo ladders had to be tied together to reach it, for the tree had no branches except at the top. The nest consisted of a large quantity of sticks and dried roots of young trees, laid down in the form of a Blackbird's nest. The contents of it were three eggs. They were quite fresh, and the bird might have laid another. The poor birds (particularly the hen) showed great boldness and returned frequently to the nest, while a ladder was put up and a man ascended it."
Mr. Frank Bourdillon writes from Travancore:--"Very common from the base to near the summit of the hills, frequenting alike jungle and open clearings, though generally found in the neighbourhood of some
running stream; I have known this species to build on ledges of rock and in a hollow tree overhanging a stream, in either case constructing a rather loosely put together nest of roots and coarse fibre with a
little green moss intermixed. The female lays two to four eggs, and both birds assist in the incubation."
Each nest is made one by one giving each a one of a kind shape and each nest is slightly different from the one before - just like the pearls - no two are exactly alike in shape.
Colonel Legge, writing in his 'Birds of Ceylon,' says:--"Mr. Bligh found a nest at Nuwara Eliya in April 1870; it was placed in a thick cluster of branches on the top of a somewhat densely-foliaged small
bush, which stood in a rather open space near the foot of a large tree; it was in shape a deep cup, composed of greenish moss, lined with fibrous roots and the hair-like appendages of the green moss
which festoons the trees in such abundance at that elevation. It contained three young ones, plumaged exactly like their parents, who kept churring in the thick bushes close by, but would not show themselves much."
These nests are larger, over an inch in diameter and have some heft to them. I like the feel and weight of the nests as they dangle from my neck. I can hold them in my palm and gaze down at them while I go about my day - always giving me a moment of pleasure.
Turquoise blue eggs for this nest which remind me of Robin's Eggs. Turquoise is a healing stone so this little nest has an especially nurturing feel.From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall tells us that "the egg of this bird was, we believe, previously unknown, and it was a mere chance that we found the whereabouts of their nests, as they breed high up in
the spruce firs at the outer end of a bough. The nest is neatly made of moss, lined with stalks of the maiden-hair fern. The eggs are pale blue, spotted and blotched with pale and reddish brown. They are ·95
in length and ·7 in breadth. This species breeds in June, about 7000 feet up."
No comments:
Post a Comment