When autumn’s spectacularly colored leaves drift by our windows they signal the end of a season. That’s also the beginning of a new season – when nests appear like magic.

A few years ago we sat on the front deck as leaves tumbled off a nearby maple. “What’s that big shape up there?” Marion asked. We looked closer through binoculars spotting a bald faced hornet nest.

Hidden From View

During the growing season we didn’t know the colony of these big hornets were nearby, because  their growing paper pulp-like nest was deeply tucked among leaves. By the time we spotted it the nest had been abandoned. We watched as the weather gradually shredded it overwinter.

Winding Pathways is filled with wildlife, big and small, and many species nest close to the house, sometimes unseen during the warm months.

Birches and Bird Nests

On a warm late November day we pruned a river birch tree near the labyrinth, looked up, and spotted an abandoned robin’s nest built on a horizontal branch. Crafted of sticks, it was lined with dried mud and likely was a perfect home for a brood of  babies.

Crafty Crows & Cozy Squirrels

Dropping leaves also reveal bulky, loosely formed crow’s nests up high on trees. After brooding and fledging crows abandon the nests which, typically, quickly fall apart. Crows to generally return to the same area year after year.

The leafy nests of squirrels high in trees are called dreys. Although they prefer using tree cavities, when these are scarce they’ll make a drey.  Dreys are easy to spot after leaf fall. They’re usually at least 30 feet up and built in the fork of a branch. The ambitious animals  weave together sticks, leaves, and grass to make one and snuggle inside during cold windy winter nights.

While walking through our yard and area trails we often spot other wintery nests.  Here are a few of our favorites:

House Wren:  All summer we’re serenaded by singing wrens, and we love watching them bring delicious caterpillars into their nests to feed babies. They are cavity nesters and claim the wooden boxes we put out for them.  Each fall we open each wren house and remove the nest of woven sticks inside.

 

Baltimore Oriole: Orioles visit us in the spring but prefer nesting along nearby Indian Creek. Their nests often hang down from the branches of tall trees and are sometimes built way above trails, lawns or water.

Goldfinches: Goldfinches love tall grasslands, and build their nest in tall wildflower stems or dense shrubs surrounded by prairie plants. They nest in mid-to late summer andline their nest with soft plant down, like milkweed fluff.

Wild Turkeys: Unlike many birds turkeys don’t work hard to build their nest. They  just make a slight depression in the ground and line it with dry leaves.  A few years ago our neighbor was doing yard work when a female turkey rushed out from under a bush right next to the home’s foundation. He was startled!  Whether back in the forest or in suburbia female turkeys usually make their nest under a shrub and next to a log or foundation. Usually there will be a clearing nearby, and to a mother turkey a lawn is a good substitute for a natural grassy clearing.

Turkey vultures: While not exactly back yard birds, turkey vultures are denizens of summer thermals. We see them soaring in the country and over towns.  A basswood tree just east of our property has been the home of nesting turkey vultures since before we settled here in 2010. The Derecho of 2020 took out many trees and broke some off the basswood. But, mostly it survived partly because it is more holes than tree!

Foxes, coyotes, and woodchucks all have favored places to tuck in. Not nests but cozy homes. Deer bed down on warmer south slopes.  Various insects create nests. The photo gallery shows some examples.

Fall’s a great time to go on a nest hunt seeking a variety of structures built by birds, mammals and even insects. Sometimes they can be a challenge to identify, but a great source is nestwatch.org.  It will help discover what birds made nests tucked in trees, in tall grasses, on the ground, and even under house eaves.