It is interesting the way our house is set up.  The second story is the entrance, leading you straight into the main area.  I get to cook amongst the highest bows of maple and pine.  It feels like living in a tree fort, like you are all cocooned in a bird’s nest.  Which of course, I love.  The forested yard is home to many song birds.  Many I am not familiar with as my birding days began down south, and many of the more common birds up here are not seen quite as often in those parts.  Plus, they seem faster.  Isn’t that ironic?  Even the birds in New England are fast paced.  I can’t even catch a good glimpse of them before they disappear into the dark woods.  It gulps them up before I have a chance to pull out the old Sibley.  Their songs are a-plenty though and I spend most nap times on the porch trying to put human words to their chirps, or if it is raining, just opening the sliding door and sitting right on the couch doing the same, tea-cup in hand.

The boys are equally interested to find out what is flitting about our windows.  We have gone out a couple of times with this particular mission in mind.  Of course crunchy feet, chattering mouths, and warning mama’s don’t make for good birders, but we try.  Oh, we try.

Though our success rate in identifying is fairly slim at this juncture, we have spotted quite a few; raptors and song birds alike.  Nests are plentiful, even so always thrilling to find.  It turns out, we have two unique ones tucked right up against our house.  One surrounded in sticks, with a layer of perfectly symmetrical mud inside, a fluffy layer of nesting, and finally on the very middle a few downy feathers.  I have yet to see the maker, so it could be this was last years abode, but I am not really all together that sure.  The other I am quite certain is in full use.  The lady of the house has been hard at work, from dawn till dusk.  And though this picture hardly even illustrates its beauty please believe me; It is stunning.  It is alive!  The moss surrounding this seemingly floating nest is green with life and of all the nests I have seen, this is the one I would choose to spend my days if I too got to soar in and out of the forests limbs.

The boys enjoy peeking up at her, mostly for the treacherous ladder climb I am sure.  This activity goes on for hours if I let don’t find a good enough activity to give them a reason to move on.  We havent reached a height to actually do any good detective work, nor would I want to.  Both for my nerves and for the sake of our feathered friend.

But, it is nice to peer over my steaming coffee cup in the morning, and see her waiting out the rain to head out and continue her days work.  Any ideas on what type of bird we have living glued to our walls?  She has a white underside, and I believe is gray on top, though as I said before she is fast.  Sometimes I am convinced she is brown.  So truly I am in the dark.  Regardless it seems as though her mossy nest-building skills could help reveal her identity, so if anyone out there in internet land has some serious birding skills, feel free to chime in!