nest and fossil

When I peeked in the shrub to see the catbird's nest, I found this smaller one on the ground below- I think it's from last year- but not sure what bird made it. It's a tidy little bowl shape, woven of dry grasses, hair and thin plastic strands. I think it's from same bird species what made the nest I found several years ago

I put it next to the other one on my shelf- and just for fun (since the egg that was in there has crumbled) I set inside them two pieces of a fossil

It was given to me by the friend I swapped plants with recently- the impression and positive of a tiny fern frond

300 million years old, from Mazon Creek in Illinois. My husband says this is a famous place for fossils.

Not something from my garden, or even something I found myself, but it's something from nature that I'm displaying with an item from my garden- so I thought to put here. When the two halves are fitted together, it is just a rounded stone: