Funky Nest Entries 201-210
201. Johanna Sorkness, Wyndmoor, PA
The nest picture was taken in a small niche in our attic. The birds entered through a small opening under the eaves that was left uncovered when this part of the house was built eleven years ago. By building here for the last few years they have had the flying range of the entire 30x22 foot attic that has windows. Each year we are reluctant to do anything about the opening until the baby starlings leave the nest. Then the job is put off and forgotten for another year. Hopefully the hole will be covered this summer as the birds do leave a mess in the attic. My granddaughters found the spot where the birds nested when they converted a part of the attic into an artists' studio and found bird droppings on their paintings!
202. Glen S Nelson, Dillingham, Alaska
A trailer home had burned and all that was left was the skeleton of the trailer and the air conditioning unit. Two birds chose to build their nests together on top of the remains of the air conditioner.
203. Bebe Derington McQuillan, Lake City, Florida
Two Carolina wren fledglings left the nest this morning leaving this un-hatched egg behind. The planter was on our back porch and placed in the sun for this picture.
204. Brad Bond, Marietta, OH
Becky Wright and I are helping with Ohio's second Breeding Bird Survey especially in Washington County in southeastern (Appalachian) Ohio. We've seen three Eastern Phoebes nesting on top of light fixtures under eaves of houses. This one on the back deck of my Marietta home fledged three chicks. The loose tail of grasses is typical of a phoebe nest wherever it is. My son-in-law in Belen, NM, has a Say's phoebe nesting on top of a pillar's capital very close to the ceiling. This closeness to a ceiling is protection not only from the weather but also flying predators.
205. Odis Johnson
This is a Mockingbird nest in a roll of fence wire. Picture was taken by my granddaughter, Kathleen Riley McMahon while on her summer visit this year. She is 10 years old and loves taking pictures of wildlife. The birds have just hatched out and we are on the watch for rat snakes that love baby mocking birds in nests near the ground.
206. Jim Drummond,Flowery Branch, Georgia
.... and they say birds aren't all that smart !!!
Imagine my surprise when I started to go for a little ride on my motorcycle this spring. I had left the garage door up just enough for the squatters to start construction - 3 days max.- never saw a single bird go in or out.
Sneaky, fast and safety conscious .... now that's proof of the evolutionary process. Now if they could just pass the license exam....ha.
207. Donna Ronnebaum, Shawnee, KS
This nest is not so much in a *funky* place... as the nest itself has become totally funky!!!
This is the third year that we've had finches build a nest in the wreath at our front door...
YEAR ONE: The first year there were three eggs (we peeked by holding a mirror above the nest)... but they did not make it. One day it appeared that all activity at the nest had stopped... after a day or two, I held up the mirror and there was nothing in the nest! I called a Kansas City bird expert to whom I was referred and was told that it may have been a blue jay or a snake that got to the eggs.
YEAR TWO: everything went according to mother nature's plan. The eggs hatched and three little ones took off into the world. We enjoyed watching the whole process from the window by the front door.
YEAR THREE: Here's where the funky part comes in. We first noticed activity at the wreath during the second half of April... in no time at all the nest was finished. We watched all of the comings and goings from inside the house. The *Peeps* hatched around Mother's Day and the five of them left the nest over Memorial Day weekend. I was going to take the wreath down and wash down the area after a few days, but I observed further activity at the nest. Round two is now in the nest... on 5/29, I held a mirror over the nest and there were five more eggs! I can't imagine how it must be sitting in that funky poopy nest... but nature is certainly taking it's course again.
We LOVE our Peeps!!!
208. Neil Angerbrandt, Wales Michigan
This year we had a Robin build in a outdoor decoration that's basically held up by bread ties. We have had them build in the past at the back door to the Garage over top of a light, but this year they went out front at the Mud room entrance. They had 4 babies and they all took flight. I took the nest out and used a heavier twin now to hold the decoration in case they try again. Here's a photo.
209. Carol Coogan
Here is a copy of my article copy and artwork from my
Times Union newspaper column, the "Backyard Naturalist,"
when the subject happened to be about some nesting that
occurred around my urban home.
http://www.directoryofillustration.com/CarolCoogan
http://members.upstateartistsguild.org/CarolCoogan
Three Bird Broods
In May, one pair of robins nested above my front porch pillar, while
simultaneously, another nested upon the horizontal cross beam of
my backyard carport. The front pair were high strung and skittish,
scolding not only anyone who approached the porch, but also anyone
inside the house who happened to pass by the window within their view.
Yet the pair in the back were unflustered and calm, barely even
acknowledging me amidst my comings and goings. It was interesting
to note this difference in personality within the same species of bird.
By June, after the robin pairs had finished raising their brood of three
babies each and moved on, I was delighted to find a pair of mourning
doves sitting serenely in the evacuated carport nest. It is not uncommon
for mourning doves to nest upon what had been previously built by
another bird, such as a robin, thrasher or mockingbird.
Watching the whole courtship, nesting and fledging process of three
separate pairs of birds was exciting. Though I can’t help but feel a little
twinge of sadness at the empty nests, I look forward to what my nature
observations in July might bring.
210. Roberta Ritchie,Hope Valley, RI
My kids found a nest that had blown to the ground and brought it into our gazebo and placed it up on the ledge over one of the windows. I found a second nest later that fall and then a friend brought me two nests he found while trimming bushes on his property.
This spring, I decided to set one of the nests on the ledge to the right of the door of the gazebo on the outside.
Within a couple of days, the nest seemed to be smaller but I shrugged off the thought thinking in simply didn’t remember the correct size/shape.
But later that week I realized that the sparrows were coming and getting straw out of the used nest to make their 2009 nest in a gourd bird house in our yard (which by the way is a flurry of activity with a new family inside as I write).
My husband says it’s just a sign of the hard financial times...even the birds are reusing their old nests.
