What's in a nest?

Newly hatched Carolina wrens

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​What’s in a nest? (They’re awfully homely….)
 
For this blog, I planned to look at the various materials that birds use to make their nests. But “What’s in a nest?” prompted me to check on the Carolina wren’s nest with the five cinnamon-spotted eggs in it. The tiny altricial babies are undeniably homely!

For children and the young-at-definitions: Altricial means having young that are hatched or born in a very immature and helpless condition so as to require care for some time.

While the wrens were hunting insects, Bob took several photos, which we examined minutely.
         
          
​          Toni: Is this in focus?
          Bob: It is. Look at the fine grass that lines the nest.
          Toni: They’re not very pretty.
          Bob: I think they’re a work in progress.

Well, back to “What’s in a nest?” Now I’m thinking about more than nesting materials and skill in weaving and hiding a nest. Now I’m focused on how a bird’s nest must shelter, protect, and hide a brood of tiny helpless birdlets. Nests, nesting materials, and nesting locations are as varied as birds. Once you identify a bird and its nest, you’ll be able to recognize another nest like it and know what kind of bird made it. Because robins often build their nests near or on our homes – even in a wreath hanging on a door – many children are familiar with their “robins-egg blue” eggs and their finely woven grassy nests.

Although it’s against the law to collect birds’ nests, you can certainly examine a nest (without touching it) after the bird family has left. When you look closely at a robin’s nest, you’ll see that it’s made of mud, grasses, weed stalks, and found objects like string or cloth and that it’s lined with fine grasses.

This is a partial list of nesting materials used by birds in our area:
         
          Mud
          Grasses
          Twigs
          Weed stalks
          Bark
          Moss
          Leaves or leaf mold
          Pine needles
          Ferns
          Lichen
          Animal hair
          Spider web
          Insect cocoons
          Plant down (like milkweed silk)
          Feathers
          Found objects: string – cloth – paper – aluminum foil - (I once found a nest with a tea bag woven             into it.)

This is the time of year to keep our eyes open for birds’ nests and nesting birds, tiny bits of eggshells, often dropped away from the nest so as not to give away its location, and birds returning repeatedly to a single place (where they are feeding young?). I never tire of watching this cycle of life repeated and repeated.

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