Nest

On the path, just sitting there, right next to my house, was this amazing little empty bird's nest. I picked it up and held it gently in my hand...it was as light as a feather. I just can't get over how a little bird made this. How does that bird know what to do? When to do it? How does a bee know when and were to do it's little bee dance? Instinct you will think...but what is instinct? How is behavior encoded in a little bird brain, I mean, what is really going on..... The answer is, as any upstanding ethnologist would tell you, that the little chickadee gets a cue, the warm weather associated with spring, and starts building. But what, really, is the mechanism by which a robin knows how big to build and what kind of materials to use to create it's nest? That we don't really know. I spose you can think like Darwin (in Origin of Species) and believe it's all about learning from one's brothers....and, you know, survival of the fittest. Either way, little bird nests such as these are a marvel to me....