Spring Cleaning

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and this is the time of year in the South, when we start to really seriously think of Spring.

The first sign for me, is seeing a Carolina wren working fevereshly on last year's nest in our carport. I purposely left the old nest from last year in place. It is a bit shabby and needs fixing, but to my enjoyment, this morning I watched Mrs. Wren return to repair and restore the family home. I know she is proud of this brown bundle she created last year; a mass of pine needles, oak leaves, lint from our dryer and scraps of twine with a tiny hole in the center. A hole just big enough for her to pass through and peer out as she sits on eggs for about two weeks during the warm months of summer.

You cannot imagine how good it makes me feel to see her again. To hear her sing with joy as she bobs up and down just outside the carport...it brightens my day no matter how many clouds are overhead.

She has come home again after a number of seasons away. Back to the place where she has brought life to this part of my world. Tiny little chicks with a big world ahead of them.

I wonder if she has decorated the interior with special finds. A special leaf or maybe a scrap of brightly colored twine? Something pleasurable to view, like a fine piece of art or photograph of a loved one as she sits patiently waiting. Waiting for the life under her soft and warm down to start hatching. To feel those first contractions before birth. The chick inside, chipping away, creating a tiny opening and peering outward. Seeing mother and the brightness of the world.

It is like growing a plant or tree to me. Setting up this nesting site is like putting seeds in the ground. When they one day pop up as green sprigs like these young chicks, I have helped nature, in my own way.