In 2011 Bourgain and Rudnick showed that if $\gamma$ is a curve of non-vanishing curvature on the 2d standard flat torus, then there are no Laplace eigenfunctions of arbitrarily large eigenvalues containing $\gamma$ in their nodal set. It is an open question whether a similar phenomenon holds on the sphere. In particular, we cannot tell if the number of spherical harmonics containing any given small circle in their nodal set is finite or infinite. We show that if $\gamma$ is a small circle on the 2-sphere, then there are at most finitely many \emph{zonal} spherical harmonics containing $\gamma$ in their nodal set. The talk is based on joint works with Borys Kadets and Adi Weller Weiser.