Hidden Places, Tangled Spaces

We might just think a nest is a nest. On a branch. In your houseplant; or maybe like one belonging to a  Robin--cutely placed in the crotch of a tree branch like in a coloring book page. But, knowing where birds nest, and how to find and identify them, will give a lot of added joy to your typical bird watching day. Right now, my favorite Owls are finished nesting in their tree holes and owl houses.  They start their family duties in January while the landscape is bare and they can see their prey skittering around much easier.  In late Spring, you will hear them out about; calling to their lifelong mates, and teaching the owlets to hunt. The rest of the garden birds are in top form now and ready to make families, because their food and insects are readily available.  Activity is right under your nose if you look for it.  The worms come up to the soil’s surface after a good rain quickly waiting for sharp-eared Robins to grab them.  Moles are underground eating the grubs, while Starlings are above ground poking for the remains.  Here are a few groups of nesting birds that are common in our gardens in Spring.  Each group has similar habits.   See what you’ve never seen before in your yard: the holes, tangled vines, and hidden branches that hold the nurseries of your familiar birds are secrets for you to carefully uncover. Whether you see nests in trees, holes, or bushes, you’ll have a better understanding on what kind of nesting bird you are identifying. . The Tree Nesters These are the Robins, Blue Jays, Hummingbirds;  Crows, Ravens, Grackles, Orioles, and Mourning Doves. Owls, Hawks and other Raptors fall into this category as well.  These are some of the common yard birds that nest in trees.  Trees are airy, high and spacious, giving these birds fairly open cover. But, the placement of the nest is key, and they are well protected at the precise location they are placed.  The Northern Oriole makes the most unusual nest here: a pouch of woven grasses that hangs precariously over a pond or other waterway.  The blackbirds like Crows, Ravens and Grackles make rustic stick nests. Robins make nests with mud, straw, grass and pieces of what we throw away in our daily lives: tissue, cellophane wrappers, string and cotton.  Hummingbirds make the smallest of nests.  It’s the size of a walnut, and spun with spider webs, grasses, and fur, placed in the fork of an overhanging branch. Barely sighted, the hummer’s nest is just a lump in the fork of a tree branch.    Looking straight on at a tree, you most likely won’t see most nests. This is the clever plan.  But, look from underneath and you will see it.  Bird parents are smart, and planning invisibility from predators is an ingrained instinct. An Owl will nest in a tree hole with a few wood shavings and feathers, making her home a lessons in minimalism.  Hawks create large stick nest towards the very tops of dead branches.  The Hole Nesters Eastern Bluebird in Tree Hole These are the Woodpeckers, Wrens, Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, Starlings, Bluebirds, and House Sparrows. Bark- crawling Nutchatches and Creepers are smaller hole dwellers.  If you have a yard with less than perfect trees, these birds will call your yard home. Broken snags and naturally formed tree holes are more than attractive. While woodpeckers will excavate a new hole in soft wood from trees that have dead parts, the others will happily occupy these holes without all the work. Injured tree parts hold protein-filled insects that can cause much damage.  Your hole nesters will take care of that problem as well. If you put a birdhouse up and want to attract hole-nesters such as Woodpeckers, a layer of wood shavings simulate the natural environment of a dug-out crevice in a tree. A House Wren will fill every available bird hole and box with sticks. They are the little mobsters of the bird world and will attempt to dominate all available houses and natural crevices. Wrens Nest Full of Sticks The hole nesters are the birds you will attract with a bird house. Tree nesters and bush nesters will never be in a hole, and the hole-nesters will never nest on a branch. The best place to put the house is nailed on the side of a tree, up on a post.  Roofed Wren houses that hang and move in the wind is a favorite of the House and Carolina Wren. Hang or mount houses under house eaves for a better chance at attracting birds. The Bush and Brush Nesters Cardinals, Mockingbirds, Warblers, Goldfinches, Song Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, House Finches for these nesting areas.  Thrushes (except Robins and Bluebirds), Red-Winged Blackbird, Thrashers, and Grosbeaks find tantalizing cover and protection here.  These are the dense brush and shrub nesters. This environment is for the birds that like their nesting foliage dense and dark.  Mockingbirds like a prickly nest in a prickly, protective rose bush, and Cardinals bury their nests deep inside thickets of holly and thick evergreens.  Goldfinches nest late in the season when most of the seeds come of age, make a small cup nest of fine grasses.  Song and other Sparrows will make a small cup of dried grasses in shrubs, and even in potted plants which at Sickles Market garden yard is a common ocurrence. A pot of rosemary or lavender is their favorite.    Cardinal Nest In Conifer House Finches are not so set in their ways.  Since they’ve been imports from the West, they will nest anywhere.  They prefer your hanging houseplant under the house eaves, but, they will nest low in shrubs and even in certain man-made houses. Blackbirds, like the Red-Wing, have a favorite place—in the rushes and high grasses by rivers and streams. But, as they are coming closer to homes, Redwing Blackbirds will nest in your low bushes and ornamental grass.  Listen for their tell-tale “whirring” song and look for that hot flash of a red wing under black wings. Next time you walk by a thick shrub, pull apart the thickest part, and you just might find a surprise inside.  Sometimes, I can just smell where a bird nest is located. It’s an acquired talent that you’ll soon get used to. Ground Nesters Wood Duck in Tree Hole Most ducks (with the exception of the Wood Duck which nests in hollow tree holes above water) nest on the ground.  It’s near ponds, streams and  rivers that you will see the Mallard duck and Canadian Goose make their nests on the ground tucked away under a bush or tree. The nests are mounds of grasses lined with plucked feathers, and there are usually 4 to 8 large eggs. Canadian Geese have become so prevalent around residential and park areas that their nests can be found anywhere there is water. Corporate complexes seem to be their favorites, and unfortunately, they have become unwanted pests in many areas. Some Sparrows like the Song Sparrow will occasionally nest on the ground in a quiet area away from human traffic.  Piping-Plover Nest on the Beach Seabirds all nest on the beach or on protected barrier islands, and its common to see great portions of a beach cordoned off to protect the Piping Plover and other endangered sea bird eggs which are laid right on the sand.  This is a way of life on beaches that are popular with tourists like the National Seashore in Cape Cod and on Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.  Piping Plover eggs blend in and are camouflaged by the beach pebbles they sit next to. Killdeer will nest out in the open in a field or pasture.   They also have an incredibly remarkable “hurt wing” act which lures predators away from the nest—sacrificing themselves as prey to protect their chicks. Building and Structure Nesters   Rock Doves.  Barn Swallow Mud Nest They are in a class of their own.  These are the birds that nest exclusively in man-made structures. While sparrows, Robins, and Starlings will occasionally nest in the eaves and cubby-hole structures on houses, only the Barn Swallow and Pigeon nest exclusively in or on buildings in this area.  While the primitive nesting spots of Barn Swallows were cliffs, they choose now to only nest in barns and under bridges on man made ledges.  Their jug-like mud nests are unique in the way they are plastered to inner barn ledges and underneath bridges. They will also make their half bowl nests under corner house eaves, on light fixtures, and anywhere there is cover and a ledge.   The Tree Swallow will nest in man- made houses and gourds, but it is the Barn Swallow that keeps the closest to humans in old barns, bridges, and other protected spots where they can form a colony.  Pigeons do the same by nesting on building ledges, under bridges, and any other spot which matches the ancestral cliffs and rocks of their origins. That’s why they are also known historically as Having Swallows in your yard or farm will keep you clean of mosquitoes and other flying insects.  Pigeons are another story, and their mess and proximity to man is forever. In fact, there’s a whole industry built up around preventing Pigeons from roosting and nesting in cities and parks.     Robin In Tree Nest It’s not too hard to welcome nesters in your yard.  Keep some of those broken tree branches and hollow holes in your trees— there’s another world up there that you will get to know.  When you snip your hair, or cut string and ribbon, throw a few bits about—you just might see them wrapped  in a Robins nest or stuffed in a bird box.  A trimmed up yard is good, but, a little wildness goes a long way. It only takes a little walk and a peek inside the world up in a tree or in an entangled vine to find a hidden nest treasure. Little clues can be a loud scolding from a bird when you are near, or a frantic bird fretting with a beak stuffed with insects waiting near the same spot every day.  Angry or impatient chirps signal bird stress and fear.  Keep an ear out for them, and you may be able to sneak a look into another world buried deep in a bush, tree or in a tree hollow. The private life of birds is sexier than you think. Patricia Dumas May 9, 2013

Baby Artichokes: A New Beginning

Not much in the kitchen intimidates me. I’ll embrace almost any culinary task: whipping up homemade mayonnaise;  kneading dough for pizza or focaccia; brushing olive oil onto impossibly thin sheets of filo dough; cutting butter into a crust for a fruit galette or savory quiche. But there are two cooking projects that I avoid whenever I see a recipe for them: making fresh pasta and trimming whole artichokes. They seem like more fussy work than I am willing to take on.

Rinsing baby artichokes 

Whereas I don’t typically take shortcuts at the stove (I’ll even make, for example, my own quince paste), I always opt for prepared pasta and artichokes. Sickles makes this easy and acceptable as it offers exquisite imported pastas and oil-preserved artichokes, some, such as Les Moulins Mahjoub artichoke hearts, are even jarred in extra virgin olive oil (usually they’re packed in a cheaper oil, like safflower).

Trimming artichokes, before & after

In the spirit of new beginnings, which spring represents, I decided to tackle one of these culinary shortcomings. Baby artichokes seemed like the way to go since they, in their diminutive form, are evocative of spring and its busy task of getting everything growing. Overcoming my resistance to making homemade pasta, on the other hand, is more suited to a New Year’s resolution. It’s a laborious process, and special equipment is necessary, and I don’t have it. Maybe I’ll get a pasta maker for Christmas or my birthday--hint, hint! For the artichokes, however, all that’s needed is a sharp knife, as well as a little patience and time.

Prepped baby artichokes in acidulated water to prevent discoloration. 

To ensure that I would commit myself to this task, I verbalized that Quick-Braised Baby Artichokes with Garlic, Mint, and Parsley  would be on the menu for the Spanish-themed dinner party that I was hosting for our church’s curate to tell him about my pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Having said that I would cook them, I couldn’t turn back now! This led to my procuring 24 baby artichokes from Sickles and then staring at a plastic bag of them a few hours before the dinner. This was the moment to act.

Browning quartered baby artichokes. 

Before acting, I got my barrings by looking over Fine Cooking’s tips for trimming artichokes. In essence the instructions are: pull off the dark green outside leaves until you get to the paler ones; trim the stalk; slice off the tips of the artichoke; cut lengthwise into quarters; rub the cut sections with lemon; and toss into a bowl of water with a lemon, cut in half, bobbing in there (the lemon prevents discoloration). Like many things that we avoid, prepping artichokes wasn’t as difficult or time consuming as I had built up in my head. There was, however, a decent amount of waste (all those discarded leaves), but I didn’t feel too bad about it as I put them in the compost. In addition there was the uncertainty of whether I had pulled off the right amount of leaves--too many or not enough. To determine this, I snapped off a promising-looking leaf, cut off its top, and ate it raw. If I didn’t chew on it repeatedly, like a cow its cud, then I knew that I had trimmed the artichoke sufficiently. My other tip is that is worth trying to leave a touch of the base of the leaf on the remaining artichoke, as this is the tasty part.

Trimmings from the pile of baby artichokes, destined for the compost. 

The actual cooking wasn’t terribly tricky, and the result was something that you can’t achieve with canned, jarred, or frozen artichokes: browned, toothsome, and full-flavored. Despite how delicious the dish was, there were veggies leftover after the dinner party, which I incorporated into a creamy pasta dish the next night. With the leftover pasta, I folded it into beaten eggs for a frittata.

Farro Salad with Marinated Artichokes, Watercress & Feta

I didn’t stop there. To go a step further and to ensure that my first attempt wasn’t my last, I made my own marinated baby artichokes for a farro salad with feta and watercress. What you gain from this effort is is a more zingy flavor and al dente texture. Prepared ones tend to be a little mushy, and they wouldn’t have provided enough of a textural contrast with the boiled farro and creamy feta.

Quick-Braised Baby Artichokes with Garlic, Mint & Parsley 

This spring dare to do something new in the kitchen, whether it be artichokes or something else, like the super seasonal fiddlehead ferns (I saute them for omelettes or simmer them in a red Thai curry)  or ramps (roast them for crositini or add them to a spring carbonara sauce).

Here’s to new beginnings!

Diana PIttet, the no-longer-artichoke-avoiding cheesemonger