Palo Verde Softballs

As the trees and bushes of the Sonoran desert green up with the monsoon, the softball-sized clumps near the tips of many of their branches become more obvious. Most people assume that they are witches’ brooms or some other pathology, but birders know: this is where the Verdins hang out.

These unsightly clumps of twigs and junk–often enough containing shredded paper, plastic, even fishing line or metal strapping–are actually comfy, dry, feather-lined chambers carefully constructed by the male Verdin, who generally builds at least three a season: one for himself, one for his lady friend to roost in, and one for the eggs and nestlings. In the early spring when they are still new, the nests can be almost perfectly globular, but by the time they are several months old, as now, they come to be a bit squashed, and it’s easy to think they are disused when they are in fact still inhabited. More than once I’ve stood under one to show it to my companions–and had a Verdin pop out to remind us of the nest’s possessor.