Funky Nest Entries 31-40
31. Barb Volker, Hopkins, Minnesota
A robin made her nest in the window of my office on second floor facing north under a portico at work.
32. Alan Speakman, Harwich, Massachusetts
33. Lucy Wilson, FreeSoil, Michigan
This group of nests is on a ladder hanging on the back of one of
our sheds. Robins started six nests in a row, finished two of them,
but after all was said and done, used only one. The fledglings moved
out about four days ago.
34. Jackie Jimmerson, Boulder, Colorado
Many years ago a finch built a nest in a bike helmet in my garage. Even though it was a House Finch (agh!) I was sad that the birds either got stuck in or out of the garage for long periods of time. I slowly, over two weeks, inched the helmet from inside the garage to right outside the door. Every spring the birds return and start their annual nest reconstruction. Now that our kids are grown the neighbor kids come around every year to make sure the birds have returned and are carrying on the tradition. The Bell helmet is a neighborhood landmark.
35. Bill Maynard, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Inside a doorless garage at the Chico Basin Ranch, Colorado, I
accidentally flushed a female Black-chinned Hummingbird from her nest,
the nest located on the lower bend of a yellow rope hanging from the
garage's ceiling. As I talked to the cowboy, Jonathan, who lives in the
ranch house next to garage nest and who also had been watching the nest
with interest, the female flew back and continued incubating her eggs.
Besides the unusual location of the nest, a more interesting part of this
story is the components selected for the tiny nest construction. Cemented
to the nest with her sticky saliva, at least two rodent skulls and a
small rodent bone or two, a jaw bone from a small rodent, in addition to
small pieces of dried grasses can be seen on the outside of the nest.
36. JK Freye, Muskegon, Michigan
This nest was made by cedar waxwings. The fun thing about this nest was watching them rip the threads from a deteriorated strapping tape wrapping around our upright sprinkler posts. They were determined and particular decorators.
37. Tom Knapp, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Attached are a couple of photos of a nest built inside the front of my canoe. Carolina Wrens felt this to be a good, dry place to raise their brood, effectively halting any plans I had to do some bird watching while floating down the Shenandoah River!
38. Michael and Marion O'Brien, Valley Head, Alabama
The following 2 photographs (overall and close-up) are of a Carolina Wren who built a nest in the open glove compartment of our Mule utility vehicle. We had not used the Mule in several days and when my wife went to use it two days ago , she wondered what all the grass was doing in the open glove compartment. She quickly recognized it as a Wren nest, as we are very used to seeing Wren nests in unusual locations here on our small farm here in Northeastern Alabama. It is our second brood of Wren eggs near the barn.
39. Hilary Zunin, Napa, California
I love the whimsical choice of a recreational vehicle for this nest. It's as if, "I'd rather be flying, but if I have to settle for a spell, this seems a welcome place for travelers." By the time we spotted this nest at Wild Lake (Napa County, CA), the family had already hit the road, leaving their Nomad behind.
40. Nikkii Carlisle, Lafayette, Indiana
This entry is of a nest built by sparrows inside of our grill! The grill lid was shut the whole time that they built the nest and raised their brood - they got in through a small gap in the side of the grill where heat escapes during cooking. The grill is on our back deck, and our children play in that area all of the time...but the sparrows didn't mind. We thought that they had found a pretty wise spot to build - protection from the elements, predators, and just about anything that could hurt them (as long as the grill wasn't turned on!). The grill sure was a mess afterwards, though!
(the 2nd picture is a close-up of the babies, all lined up like sardines in a can)
