91. Carson Winkel, Rockwall, Texas

I submitted this entry because I've been looking for a photo contest and my Mom found this one.
The story behind this is that I just heard chirping in that nest and put my camera to video and put the camera on a stick to see the birds. The nest is located at our home in Hughes Springs, Texas. It is on top of the light fixture in the carport.

 

 

92. George Janson, Fort Collins, Colorado 

I am a field technician on a USDA-funded research project monitoring solar radiation for its impacts on our food supply, using an instrument array worth about $50,000.00 at each station, which we definitely need to keep in prime working condition.  The network of 37 stations is deployed in an array pattern throughout the USA and southern Canada, predominately in agricultural and rural areas.  Yet in all those areas we’ve only had two locations where birds have been a problem: Vermont and Illinois.  At the Illinois site the birds would build nests upon some of the enclosures, and in Vermont they just used it as

a staging (and pooping) platform.  The local site operators do routine checks of our instruments as well as other networks equipment (most sites have lots of collocated research projects) to keep the sensors and ancillary components clean.  Yet it’s amazing how fast birds can make a nest and lay eggs in it as soon as the local site operator walks away.  Our project’s field technicians make annual visits to each site for maintenance that is beyond what we expect of the local site operators.

 

Image 1 shows a nest at the Illinois site during our annual site visit in July 2000, obviously with chicks, which precluded the local site operator from removing this nest, though he had removed unoccupied and incomplete nests several times prior.

 

Image 2 shows a different nest at the Illinois site during our annual site visit in April 2003, obviously unoccupied and incomplete, which allowed us to remove it. Image 3 shows our answer to the persistent bird problem – rubber snakes!  Since that time we’ve not had any more problems with birds at our instruments in Illinois (and also at Vermont).  The local site operator moves the snakes every few to several months when doing major cleaning of the array.

93. Karen Willies, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada

I was recently visiting a cousin in Ottawa and she introduced me to her most recent roommate. On her patio/balcony, where two planters were attached to the wall, a Mourning Dove had built a nest and was raising two young. The Mourning Dove did not seem at all perturbed by our presence.  Perhaps nests in planters are quite common, however I had not seen one before this occasion.

94.  Carla Stanley, Homer, Alaska

 A few years ago our son in Mesa, Arizona bought a small boat from a friend, so that he could  take his son fishing in the local lakes.  After checking the boat out, he discovered a new nest sitting right on the hitch, made by a little dove.  He refused to take the boat until they were done nesting.  When he finally was able to pick it up, he christened the boat, "Little Dove".  They still haven't caught a fish with the boat, but the name stays!

95. Maureen LR Bloesch, Putnam, New York

A few years ago, a Carolina Wren flew into our bathroom window and decided it was a great place to build a nest. She laid her eggs in a tissue box on top of the toilet tank, she sat on them, as we came and went.  She raised her young, as we came and went. They fledged, as we came and went. Our bathroom had been their place of birth. For us humans, it was an absolute delight.

I have written a book about their first time with us, as well as one about the bathroom venture. Hopefully they will be out in about a year.

 

96.  Kevin Smith, Crooked River Ranch, Oregon

Here is my entry to the Cornell "Funky Nest" photo contest.  This House Wren built a nest in a cow skull on the front porch of a friend's home here at Crooked River Ranch, Oregon.  I was there to photograph a Red-tail Hawk nest, but this was much more fun.

97.  Marc Severson, Tucson, AZ

Who's the bird brain here? 

Some years ago I had placed two sets of hooks on the east side of my house so I could hang up my two ladders. One spring day I came around the side of the house to find that a Mourning Dove had built a nest on the top of the wooden ladder.

 
Upon seeing me the mother bird flew off leaving the nest with two eggs in it. Not wanting the nest to be there I carefully moved it over to a spot on my fence, in full view of the former location.

Two days later I returned to find that the nest I had moved had been knocked down and the bird was once again in a nest on the top of my wooden ladder. She bolted as before and this time wearing gloves I once more moved the nest.

A few days passed and I went to check on the progress of the proposed move. It was again a total failure. The old nest was on the ground and a new nest on the ladder. Nonplussed I built a quick little wooden platform, attached it to the wall of the house right next to the ladder and moved the nest.

It only took until the next day to find the nest I had moved gone and a new nest on the ladder. Not one to give up easily I carefully moved the new nest to the platform and took the wooden ladder down from the wall – moving it around to the other side of the house.

The next day I came out to find the nest I had moved on the ground and a new nest on my metal ladder that was hung near to where the wooden one had been.

I gave up, put the wooden ladder back and moved the nest back to its original spot, where the dove successfully raised her brood that summer.

98. Dr Craig T. Symes, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

These are pictures of some Red-headed Weaver nests in South Africa. Recently we have been prone to power blackouts due to electricity overloads on the grid....seems like I found the answer. Unfortunately the birds were not using the nests at the time, possibly not wanting to be incriminated.

 

 

 

99.  Jerry Marmon, Fort Ripley, Minnesota

My nest was built on the plastic tubing along the shed.  It amazes you where a nest will pop up.  The blue eggs are something else. It's nice, since this picture the birds have hatched and are being fed.  Hopefully no raccoon or cat will discover them before they fledge.

 

 100. Richard Dyer, Enfield, Connecticut

Woodpecker holes in pressure-treated lightpole, unusual.

 

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