Mystery twigpile

[altivo]

Mystery twigpile
Originally uploaded by Altivo

As promised, here's a photo of the mysterious maybe-a-nest that appeared a week ago. I'm thinking perhaps a mourning dove did it, but we haven't seen a bird near it yet. The opening in the oak tree is about fifteen feet above the ground, a foot tall, three inches wide, and six inches deep.

Comments

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

Maybe a squirrel was building a nest there, but gave up on it when it turned out to not be working out too well? Yes, they usually line them with leaves, but they need some sort of base to start with, and I'd hazard a guess that they'd use twigs of about that size.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

We have lots of squirrel nests (or "drays" as they are called) in our trees. They usually pick higher locations than this, and seem to build nests almost entirely of leaves. The nests are located in forked branches, usually where three branches fork out of one. All our squirrels are the gray squirrel (Sciurus niger, or at least that was what they were when I studied biology) rather than the red squirrel that does use old woodpecker excavations and such.

I've been trying to convince myself that these twigs just blew down and got stuck in there, but there are too many of them and they accumulated too quickly.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Beavers.

Definietly beavers.

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Rider, rider, rider.

Grey, mourning beaverreloves, obviously.

Imp being

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Magpie?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, I kinda doubt it. See, those tree-climbing beavers are extremely rare and aren't usually seen this far south. We do have the ordinary kind, but we're about a mile from the nearest colony, and our creek isn't big enough for them to swim in. ;p

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Or perhaps a tiny pegasus? <G>

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No magpie relatives in this part of North America, as far as I know. Closest we get are the mockingbird family, and they're all out of town on vacation this time of year, ya know.

[hrrunka]

Yep, Sure doesn't look like the wind blew them there, so someone animate must be responsible. I'm sure you'll let us know if you spot the culprit. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

They are interwoven and wedged in there so that even a strong wind won't take them out. Clearly it was artifice rather than accident, even though it doesn't look like much.

[hrrunka]

My bet, knowing nothing about North American wildlife (apart from a bit about the habits of the grey squirrels we now have here in huge numbers), is that the culprit is probably avian...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that too. Squirrels here build amazingly substantial nests out of leaves, but the support structure seems always to be live branches or twigs that have grown in a suitable formation. Some squirrel species do use cavities, but I don't think the local variety do that. They are too large to fit, for one thing.

The messy character of the "nest" suggests dove family or possibly some of the raptors. Hardly seems like a raptor location, and I know mourning doves just make a random pile of twigs (though I wouldn't have thought it would be so large.) ;p

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

Do you have an extra webcam you can set to watch the nest?

I think Archie and Asher are playing a trick on you somehow.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

I don't think Archie and Asher could reach that high. If they've developed tree climbing skills, they've kept it hidden very well. Perhaps it's a gray fox? Or an inebriated raccoon?

The tree is outside the boys' fence, in any case, and I know they haven't figured out how to open the gate.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, and sorry, no webcams at all. Living on zero bandwidth, you don't even think about such things.

[typographer.livejournal.com]

Tourists!

Vinegar crabs on holiday, perhaps?

Or an otter?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind an otter, but that seems even less likely than beavers. As for the crabs, well, it's definitely too cold for them here. We're still running well below freezing most of the time.

I'm afraid we may never know precisely what it was.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Oh its beavers alright.

There anticipating the high water mark.

*ducks*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Ducks? Well yeah, we did consider a wood duck, which is found around here and nests in tree cavities. But apparently they don't use twigs. Instead they line the hole with their own down and feathers. ;p

Too bad, I'd have enjoyed that. After hatching, the ducklings dive from the nest, which is sometimes as high as 30 feet in the air, to the ground, where their mother leads them to water. I'd love to see that.

As for your beavers, if the water here gets that high, the Adirondacks will be islands in the middle of an ocean that extends from the Gulf of St. Lawrence nearly all the way to Colorado.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Didn't you see Al Gore's movie!?

=0

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Nope. I didn't need him to convince me that there is a climate shift going on, whatever the reason for it. Nor do I need scare stories to convince me that we should try to do something about it. Unfortunately, I seem to be in a minority.

In general, I've been avoiding "media" for years. So much of it is garbage that I can't be bothered.

[gldm.livejournal.com]

It's obvious. The tree just drank too much and threw up.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Eeewww. A carnivorous cannibalistic tree.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*Hides around the other side of the tree peeping around occasionally*
You've piqued my curiosity

[altivo.livejournal.com]

We still don't know what did this. It hasn't changed for a couple of weeks, so I guess the creator gave up on it.