Funky Nest Entries 21-30
21. Nancy Mone, New York City, New York
In New York City the light poles have a cross beam or pipe that anchors the wires for the traffic lights. These pipes are hollow and House Sparrows use them for shelter and maybe even nesting, although I have never looked inside one to see if that is true.
The three pictures below are:
1. A long shot showing the light pole and the pipe---up high near the top of the pole just below the street light. You can see that this particular pole is located at East 76th Street in Manhattan.
22. Jaime Wallenstein
Dark-eyed Junco nest in a surprising place....
23. Bet Zimmerman, Woodstock, Connecticut
Carolina Wren nest in a boot. Carolina Wrens often choose odd locations for their nests. They do not often use nestboxes. Guess Wayne won't be wearing these boots for a while...
24. Holly J. Dunbar, Hillsborough, New Jersey
The mission of Duke Farms is to serve as a model of environmental stewardship and to inspire visitors to become informed stewards of the land. Bicycles are available for use by staff members to travel around the property. One of these bikes was parked under an overhang outside our office for some time and, lo and behold, a nest appeared inside a safety helmet that was left in a basket attached to the handlebars.
25. Cheryl Harmon, Lawrence, Kansas
The basket on a shelf in the backyard held hose connectors, nozzles and sprayers. When I realized an American Robin had begun raising a family in the basket I had to go and buy new sprayers to use with my hoses. One can’t disturb a “Mother and her children”
26. Karen Sanford, Sellersburg, Indiana
The Mourning Dove used an old wreath I had taken down off my back door on my porch. All she did was add a little bit of straw. Last year they had three broods. This year they are on their second brood. These photos are of the first brood this year.
27. John Pelafigue, Mckinleyville, California
The nest was built inside the engine compartment of a Piper Comanche, overnight, while the owners slept in a resort hotel. As a pre-flight inspection always covers an inspection of the cowl opening, the owner, Jeff Lee, of Concord, CA, discovered it easily. The succeeding photo shows the happy result of having averted a catastrophic engine fire.
28. Susan Melka, Harrison, Idaho
This wind chime hangs on my kitchen porch. The nest was actually built last year by this little Calliope Hummingbird. She raised two babies here, much to my delight. It hangs under an eave and rotates slowly in the wind, so she had a very clear view of everything going on around her. My garden is full of flowers and feeders and there are two fountains nearby that she seemed to love bathing in. Anyway, I left town for two weeks at the end of May this year and came home to find the nest reoccupied! There were two eggs in it that hatched on my third day home. She had remodeled the inside of the nest, adding some spiderwebs and cushy plant material. What a treat!
29. Boyd Jensen, Rancho Cordova, California
When an Anna's Hummingbird made a nest on a friend's clothesline in Wilton, California I was invited to take some photographs. The hummer had built its home on a wooden clothespin. I set my Nikon on a tripod and fired it remotely from the kitchen when the bird returned to the nest.
30. Rod Sallee, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
This is a Carolina Wren nest in our garage when we lived near Harpers Ferry, WV. The wrens came through a small space beside the dog flap in a side door and took up home in my car wash bucket that had a soft faux chamois in it. It was only about 5 feet from my vehicle but stayed even though I took the vehicle out and in at least twice a day. Needless to say, I went to the car wash rather than doing it myself during their nesting period.
