Funky Nest Entries 141-150
141. Sue Ann Erkenbeck, Thousand Islands, New York
142. Louise Brown, Kamas, Utah
The Acess Road to the Bear River Bird Refuge is under re-construction and as a result the twelve miles has seen only minimal road traffic. The American Avocets have been using the recently placed gravel for their nests and the construction crews have nicely circled all of them with pink spray paint to note the nest locations. It does make for a funky-looking nest.
143. Laura Ditlevson, El Paso, Texas
Laura, age 9 of Laura's Garden Center & NWF Certified Backyard Habitat discovered this Mourning Dove nest in early spring. Laura is a 9 year old naturalist who spends much of her time outdoors in her urban backyard. The landscape is kept as natural as possible in order to share the habitat with reptiles, small mammals, birds, and even insects. Currently, Laura is actively opposing a developer who wishes to put self storage on a 3 acre property behind our house. She is scheduled to speak, on behalf of the animals whose homes will be destroyed, before the City Council the first week in July, 2009.
144. Carole May, Anacortes, Washington
These were taken at our ferry dock. The Pelagic Cormorants build their nests in the dock pilings. I'm sending a photo of what the pilings look like as well as one of the nests. They were taken from inside the ferry. I had to take these photos as I found it fascinating how these birds adapt to their environment and are able to best protect their eggs and young. The pilings shelter them and their nest from the rain and winds.
145. Jodie Hayes, Boulder, Colorado
As a golfer, I'd prefer to have birdies on the golf course but on May 1, 2009 it became evident we were about to have them in our bathroom window! This Boulder, Colorado House Finch built her nest in our open bathroom window laying the first of her five eggs on May 5. These photos had to be shot through the screen, which was helping to keep the nest in place.
We made our master bathroom off limits except for the photo documentation that follows. As the four that hatched grew and began to crowd each other, I noticed Mom began building a second nest right next to the first. "How cute," I thought. "She's putting on an addition to accommodate her growing family!"
Little did I know there would be four more eggs before the first batch of fledglings left their nest.
(Note 4 babies still in the first nest on the left)
146. Dave Schultz, Mc Donald, Pennsylvania
The following picture was taken on a not so remote part of the Pittsburgh International Airport. Notice the carry-on luggage tag? Although watchful, just look at that stare, she or he was not bothered by me or the ramp vehicles or the noisy aircraft. In fact today, 6-9-09, I watched as the one baby left the nest with Mom and Dad close by.
147. Theresa Kosek, Moscow, Pennsylvania
Our front door is not used every day since we have another entry that we use more often. We decorated the door with a grapevine wreath to add some curb appeal. One day I opened the door to walk out on the porch and a tiny bird flew off the wreath. I hadn't noticed until then, but she had built a nest right on the wreath. The nest had eggs inside and I was worried that she would not return after she realized that the door moves. To my great relief, she not only returned, but stayed and hatched all the eggs.
148. Sandra McGibbon, East Dennis, Massachusetts
A pair of Carolina Wrens built a nest in a plastic "coffee container" that my husband has attached to a fence in our yard. He has inside the coffee container an electric timer to turn on a water pump for our small fish pond and used the container to keep the timer out of the weather. He cut two small holes in the bottom of the container so that he could feed the electric cords in and out to plug in the timer.I noticed a wren carrying in nest material by climbing up one of the cords and entering through the small hole where the cords enter. They raised two babies and they recently left the coffee container.
149. Anne Marsch, west of Moncton, New Brunswick
My friend & I were looking for breeding evidence in our Atlas squares and thought this was a recycling effort on the American Robin's part. (Built on an old muffler)
150. Bob Schallmann, Seal Beach, California
The attached images are from a loggerhead shrike nest at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in Seal Beach, CA. The nest was located amidst razor security wire and underneath a traffic safety cone. The nest was the only one in the area to avoid predation by crows and fledged out six young shrikes. It must have been a strange upbringing in an orange world!
