Last week I was out and about running errands when I noticed a lovely robin's nest sitting on an exterior window ledge of an empty store front. Picking up the nest, I noticed some gaping holes in the interior bottom. However its overall structural integrity was fair.
I collect nests but only those that I feel have been abandoned, not to be reused by the bird family again.
The concept of a nest has always represented home to me. What home one might ask? My answer is -- my home where I live now, where I lived as a child, where I lived as an adult and sometimes where I live in my mind. So you see, I have many homes.
A home usually has bits of the following traits; semblance of a family, structural surroundings to protect one from natural elements, familiarity, and mostly hope. Hope that you can fly, at will, from your nest and be able to return at some point in time. Hope that there will always be family and or familiarity within each home/nest as one ages, and lastly that your nests will remain standing in your mind. Not all of us will be able to experience the family home, familiarity or structural surroundings we once knew.
So maybe someday we might not have the childhood/adulthood homes to revisit. But we will always have the home that we live in at this instant and our home that lives in our mind.
Robins build and rebuild homes for their families. For them each rebuild and location is different in some way. They adjust. We can adjust if need be.
Thinking of nests as you define them immediately makes sense although I hadn't thought that way. My visual memory is strong; I could sketch the layout and furniture placement of every "nest" I've ever lived in. They all remain retrievable. Thanks for a new-ish thought this morning
ReplyDeleteJune -- An interesting practice to remember the layout and furniture placement of every "nest" one has lived in. I tried your practice this morning of my childhood home and yes, I could remember all of what you said. Our minds are so amazing. thanks -- barbara
DeleteThe saying, "Home is where the heart is," certainly is true. I like your analogy to the birds who fly away, knowing they can return, and rebuild if necessary. I love bird nests, too. The one you found looks like a beauty.
ReplyDeleteTeresa -- I would imagine you would run across quite a few nests on your property. Sometimes the winds of winter will blow a beautiful nest down around my place. My favorite nest is a tiny finch one that my son gave me on the day he moved away from home. thanks for the comment -- barbara
DeleteFolkways Notebook, please know that I will keep with me the thought of how the robin adjusts to its new home and location. In fact, I'm going to put together a framed picture of a robin to hang on my wall here....and take it with me if/when I'll be forced to find another nest. It's all about adjusting and keeping a smile in the heart. Thank you so much for this blog.
ReplyDeleteNature weaver -- I do hope you will be in your present home for some time yet. A picture of a robin or any other bird will be great on your wall. All birds in nature play the adjustment game. All of nature plays the adjustment game too. I have learned so much from observing Mother Nature. thanks -- barbara
DeleteI wonder how many robin families were raised in that nest before it was deemed "structurally unsound" and abandoned? :-)
ReplyDeleteI've lived in a lot of houses too, and my image of "home" draws from many of them without being any one of them specifically. It's definitely more a state of mind and heart than anything physical, but for me "home" has soft lights, a comfy kitchen, plenty of books, a critter or two curled up on a rug, and a few cherished items displayed in special places. And it's always clean. (Because it's in my imagination, which makes that possible. LOL)
Laloofah -- I could live in your imaginary house! June's comment was interesting. She can remember the layout of every home she has lived in. Each of us view home in much the same way yet with some differences. thanks for the comment -- barbara
DeleteNever had a bird's nest, and am amazed that they are created over and over by all those birds. Maybe they think the same of our houses. I'm going to award your blog a Sunshine Award tomorrow from my blog. I think it's meant as an honor.
ReplyDeleteBarbara -- I thank you wholeheartedly for your generous thoughts of giving me a Sunshine Award. I do not post awards on my blog. but again thank you
DeleteBarbara,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I too have come to this feeling of home is where I am at. Perhaps it is a coming of age and accepting the way we are. Thanks for sharing your view.
Grampy -- Your home seems surrounding my the wild things you love -- I am sure you are "at home." -- thanks barbara
DeleteThis is so beautiful Barbara--your ideas have made me pause to think more of what home actually is to me.
ReplyDeleteRubye -- Nice to pause and think about what home is actually. I do it quite often myself. thanks for the comment -- barbara
DeleteTerrific photo -- profound reflections.
ReplyDeleteVicki -- thanks for the nice comment about my post and the photo. Like getting out and about with my new camera -- but this heat is beginning to wear me down -- I know it has been hot your way too. -- barbara
DeleteA very thoughtful comparison of nests in relation to homes. We find nests, often on the ground in the fall and they are such marvels of architecture.
ReplyDeletemichelle -- I imagine you find some neat nests in the fall. Do you use them with the school kids. I use the Petwrson Field Guides, Eastern Bird's Nests the most to identify the nests. Agree with you -- their nests can be marvels of architecture. The poor English Sparrow, I feel, is a bit clumsy when it come to architecture. But he/she makes it work. --- thanks -- barbara
DeleteWhat a wonderful nest! At least the robins will reuse them, unlike those crazy mockingbirds that desert each nest after the young have fledged. I've tried to get one of their empty nests out of a shrub but they generally fall apart when you move it.
ReplyDeleteMamabug -- According to the book I just mentioned in my comment back to Michelle (above), the mockingbird builds rather loosely constructed nests. Perhaps that is why it is difficult to remove. Also they seldom use the same nest for their new brood. They usually have two broods a year. I have not seen a mockingbird around here. Or maybe I have and I was unfamiliar with it so it went nameless. thanks -- barbara
ReplyDeleteBest let the robins lead then.
ReplyDeleteBirdman -- thanks for the comment -- barbara
DeleteI have come back full circle to the hometown of my childhood, after spending many years in other places...life is such a journey...
ReplyDeleteAkannie -- Interesting. I wonder what prompted you to return to your hometown? How many years were you away? Had things changed much from when you lived there before. Sure would be a good post to read about. -- barbara
ReplyDelete