Simple Things: A Bird's Nest
Photo courtesy of Luke Brugger
It’s the simple things, really, that undo me. Why is it, when I have seen some truly spectacular things, that a bird's nest filled with berries plucks at my heart strings?
Shane is a born scout. If we’re traveling, he has one eye on the road (most of the time), and the other in the woods, or in the ditch, or on the hill, looking for animals. Mainly. Anything of interest, really. I've been in training for 19 years, but I’m still just an okay spotter. I’m no eagle-eye. It’s not in my DNA. Shane is our scout. And so it was yesterday, as we were riding trails in the Can Am, that he spotted an abandoned bird's nest filled with berries. We braked hard and threw it in reverse, such a treasure was it.
Long vacated, the nest had filled with berries from the surrounding shrubs. It looked like mayhaw jelly, or what I imagine mayhaw jelly to look like, because who has ever seen a mayhaw?
Shane, of course, jumped out of the Can Am and fetched yon nest to me, so I could share in the moment without getting cold. He's good that way.
Yes, it was just decomposing berries in an old bird's nest. But. The nest was meticulously built; delicate and strong. Rugged. Beautiful. No wonder we call our homes "nests." It's an effort, to build a proper home.
What’s special is that we might be the only humans to ever see that particular little work of heavenly art. To think the God of all wonders cares about a baby bird's home so that he put proper nest-making into its birdie DNA. It's so special, like seeing a little miracle.
I’m honored to be married to a fine scout, who cares about things like bird's nests and keeping his wife warm, and I’m honored to see things others might never see, because they’re not looking, and because Shane is.
Simple things.
Curious? Click on these links for more amazing info on birds and their nests:
