During a quiet afternoon in a friend’s garden, we noticed something strange between two flowerbeds. A cluster of tiny shapes sat in damp soil, “arranged like miniature bowls tucked neatly into the earth.” At first glance, they looked like tiny nests.

We leaned in, guessing wildly: seeds, insect eggs, pebbles. “Nothing made sense.” Each small cup held round objects inside, placed so neatly it felt intentional. Photos only deepened the mystery.

We turned to my friend’s grandfather, an experienced gardener. One look at the photos and he smiled.
“Ah. Those are birds’ nest mushrooms,” he said.
The idea sounded unbelievable—mushrooms shaped like nests, complete with egg-like forms.

These fungi belong to the Nidulariaceae family. Each cup holds small capsules filled with spores. When rain falls, droplets hit the cups and scatter the packets, helping the mushrooms spread. They grow in mulch, compost, and decaying organic matter, are only a few millimeters wide, and are easy to miss unless you look closely.

What stayed with us was their subtlety. They don’t demand attention but reward curiosity. The discovery reminded us that “nature saves some of its best surprises for the smallest spaces,” turning an ordinary garden walk into a moment of wonder.