BIRD HOMES

Bird Homes



Bird Homes

Bird homes are almost as varied as the different types of birds themselves. Although some birds make similar types of nests, most of the nests are unique unto each species in shape, material or location. In fact, the nests are so distinctive that there are many books available which will tell you how to identify the bird that made the nest, even if you have not seen the bird. Nest building is an instinctive trait. The birds don't have to be taught. Let's say a bird's egg was hatched in an incubator and the bird was raised in complete isolation, if given the proper material at the proper time to build a nest, the bird would build a nest typical of its species. However, just as some people are more creative, more ambitious or just smarter than others, some birds of the same species build better nests than others. The mourning dove does not make a very strong nest, and I have seen some nests that had so few sticks that you could look up through the bottom and see the eggs.

The hummingbirds make the smallest nest. It's so small that it can be completely covered by a silver dollar. The bald eagle makes the largest nest, some measuring 6' to 8' across and weighing tons. Most of the smaller birds build a nest, use it one time and then abandon it. The reason for this is that most small birds raise two or three broods of young per year. Most birds are plagued with body lice and the lice will infest the nest. The first brood is not exposed to many lice. However, if the nest is re-used for a second brood in the same season, the buildup of the lice would probably kill the baby birds.

Birds that raise only one brood per year often use the same nest year after year because the lice die over the cold winter months. Hawks, owls and eagles use the same nest over and over, adding new layers each year. Such nests, used for many years, often become so large and heavy that they can cause the tree to break.

Shorebirds probably make the simplest nests of all; they are merely hollows, scraped out in the sand or gravel, and have no added material. The eggs are lightly mottled to match their natural surroundings. Woodpeckers hollow out a new den hole each year which seems like such a waste of a perfectly good den hole. That too is part of Nature's plan because abandoned woodpecker holes make ideal nesting spots for birds as the chickadees, titmice, swallows, wrens, etc. that live in such holes but cannot make their own. Flying squirrels are also quick to use such holes. The extra large holes made by the Pileated woodpeckers are used by wood ducks, mergansers, screech owls, gray squirrels, etc.

Nests are made out of twigs, grass, rootlets, cattail fluff, deer hair, horse hair, spider webs, lichens, mud, ...