November Nest

We had our first real snow storm at the beginning of last week! There was a lot of snow and wind, and it was cold, and very beautiful. Unfortunately my old snow boots wore out a while ago -- new ones are on their way now! -- so we mostly just admired the snow from the cozy indoors. And then we went out of town for Thanksgiving, and by the time we got back most of the snow had melted. Even so, I loved seeing patches of snow still on the ground when I visited the Roy H. Park preserve this afternoon. The trees have dropped all their leaves at this point, making everything simply gray and green and brown... but I still think this scenery is lovely:
 

And spots of color are still hanging around, although they can be a bit hidden. Look at all the holiday-appropriate colors in this collection of strawberry and cinquefoil leaves lining one edge of the boardwalk:
 

Chickadees and sparrows and nuthatches were foraging all around these fields and woods today, and the bare branches on a lone shrub in the middle of a field revealed a perfect little nest left over from the summer:
 

The nest was so tightly constructed, and it was lined with what looked like the fluff from some plants' seeds (although this material was a bit sodden with rain). I don't have a lot of experience with bird nests, but this one seems to match the description of an American Goldfinch nest. How cool to think that a little goldfinch family might have had a cozy home in this tree just a few months ago:
 

Even on a gray, melting-snow day in late November, there are always interesting things to see outside!