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Funky Nests in Funky Places 2012

View the photo and art entries

Our annual Funky Nests in Funky Places Challenge is back May 1!!
Send us your photos, videos, stories, artwork, dances, and more by July 15.
Birds build nests in the strangest places! Have you noticed any bird nests in your neighborhood? Peek in a hanging flower basket, a street light, a store sign, your barbecue grill, an old boot, or under a bridge! Great prizes!

Signs of Spring!

2. Theodore Bering, OH

View recognized entries

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this challenge! We've enjoyed receiving your stunning entries. If you'd like to see see the entries by category, go to:

View the photo and art entries

View the stories, poems and videos

Take a walk outside and notice signs of spring: a robin with a beak full of nesting material, a goldfinch becoming bright yellow again, birds returning from their winter migration, courting behavior, a spring song, a new nest, young birds learning to fly…and more.

Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

The entry-period for this Challenge is up! Check out participants' entries here. Have you noticed birds interacting with other birds, people, animals, or things? Watch a House Sparrow trying to get your sandwich at the park, a crow teasing your dog, hummingbirds fighting over a flower, a chickadee watching you as you fill your feeders.

Black Capped Chickadee photo by Kenneth Konrad

Funky Nests 2011

View recognized entries. Birds build their nests in some surprising places...show us what you find in your neighborhood! And if you've never seen a Funky Nest, just check your garage, your old shoes, the traffic light on the corner, your clothesline, the top of your snow shovel, well, you get the idea!

Canada Goose photo by Janie L.Ferguson, NY

Flights of Fancy

View our page of recognized entries. Flight is part of the magic that sets birds apart from earth-bound creatures like us. View the poems, stories, photos, drawings, video, sculpture about how flight and feathers inspire . Please click here to read about the challenge and view entries in the different categories. Download the flier by clicking here.

Bird Chow

Entries were accepted between September 1 and November 1, 2010.
Birds eat more than bird seed...have you watched them chowing down?
It takes a lot of fuel to keep a bird going, especially before migration or winter, and so finding and consuming food is a major focus of their lives!

Click here to view all the entries

Photo by Pauline Schafer and Tobias Hagge, Richardson, Texas

Survival

How do birds survive winter, and what is winter like where you live?

This challenge concluded on February 15, 2010 but you can challenge yourself and create a special greeting card with your observations about bird survival in winter.

View the prizewinners and selected entries

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