Winter Nests

Tree tops in winter reveal a variety of nests. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Winter Nests

The early months of the year tend to be gray and overcast where I live. When it rains for several days, it’s even more of a spirit damper so over the years, I have developed things i look for as we slowly move towards spring.

One of the signs I try to spot are nests. With all of the leaves off trees and bushes, nests become clearly apparent. I find tiny nests in shrubs that held Red Cardinal eggs. Sometimes I clean nests out of some of my bird feeders.

And on my walks, I look for nests at tree tops.

I don’t have to look up the source of those tree top nests, they belong to the very active community of gray squirrels in my garden.

In one of my older gardening books I was reading, there was a time when people put up squirrel boxes for squirrel nesting sites. Without those boxes, squirrels build nests in trees or use dead tree trunks.

I do leave old trees to give woodpeckers and squirrels potential homes but they seem to do a pretty good job themselves.

Nests in trees full of leaves are squirrel nests. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Be careful getting too close. I once tried to look at the detailed leaf design of a squirrel nest and found myself staring into the faces of 3 baby squirrels!

Charlotte