A Nest in Winter

As I was leaving the office the other day, I released a slow breath and glanced up at a few trees lining the path to my car. Not too far overhead, tucked tight against the bare branches, sat a little well-trimmed bird’s nest. I pay attention to birds…have since I was a kid. Finding a secret nest still brings me a child’s pleasure of surprise. Winter exposes many secrets of nature and I remain ever-curious. This day I wondered “what’s in a nest in winter?” Is there a huddled little finch, or two, asleep in that twiggy cocoon of their youth? Or maybe a gypsy junco, stealing away a night and then moving on? I’ve read about nests. There are the bigger nests, the lofty squirrel clutches, where indeed group survival depends on the warm retreats of snowy winter. Then the little bird nests. They are of course the egg homes, the brood camps. Mostly they are abandoned in winter…the proverbial “empty nest” season.

But as I walked to my car I acknowledged that a nest in winter holds the promise of spring, the memories of youth, and some answers to our hidden secrets.