Tuesday, July 7, 2009

How to build the perfect home

Two days ago I was pruning my Indian lollypop shrub when I saw this abandoned nest built by a pair of tiny birds,similar to sunbirds. They had used a leaf of the shrub as the roof,and hung their little , hemispherical nest from the leaf. The leaf was bent in such a way that not a drop of the monsoon rain would enter the nest. The entrance was facing north-east, so that no rain water from the southwest monsoon would come into the nest. The nest itself was made of locally available material like dried grass and cotton (from my cotton tree). Wherever the straw had pierced the leaf, the bird had stuck a knob of cotton to the straw end, so that it would not slip down.
This was a perfect home- safe, secure, strong due to the hemispherical structure, warm and comfortable.I am sorry, I can't send a photo because my camera is kaput.

2 comments:

  1. Lovely Obrservations bought helped to bring the picture alive.

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  2. I've watched birds before. You'd think they'd get tired of doing that all the time.

    Cher
    Goldenray Yorkies

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