Lining the Nest

Today feels like spring - at last. The early mornings are alive with bird song now. Soon nests will be popping up in the trees around our home. I especially love the hummingbirds. We are blessed, here on Vancouver Island, to have Anna's hummingbirds. They overwinter with us. Because of this, I know the little ones who frequent my feeder pretty well. Each year they raise their young somewhere close by. I haven't yet found one of their thimble-sized nests, but I keep hunting for one.

A friend told me that one lovely spring day, a few years back she sat outside with her wheel and spun up some soft, pink mohair. That autumn, she found an abandoned robin's nest and was surprised to see pink inside of it. On close inspection, she realized that the smooth, round nest was neatly lined with her pink mohair - bits must have drifted off while she had been spinning in the spring. I love this story and so every spring now, I stuff the winter suet feeder with tufts of fibre.

Today I put out the rest of Arran's hair - the bits that pulled apart and reverted to fluff during the knitting. Perhaps this year, the tiny, hummer babies will hatch into the softness of Arran's fluff. Its a good way to start out in the world - in a fur lined nest.