Bird's Nests

       There are few birds which do not build nests for themselves and their mates; two of the most important of them are the cowbird and one species of the cuckoo. The European cuckoo is not a bird you will like when you learn a little about it. It has no home; it will lay eggs on the ground and then carry them to the nests of other birds and expect the owners of those nests to hatch the eggs and feed the young when they hatch. It never deposits more than one egg in a nest; it thinks the owner will not notice one extra egg. The cowbird is like the cuckoo. It will not rear its own young; like the cuckoo of Europe it puts its eggs in the nests of other birds. Most birds will allow the cowbird's egg to remain in the nest and will hatch it, but see in the videos below what blue birds do to prevent a cowbird eggs from hatching.

• Amazing to see what the bluebird did to the cowbird egg!
• Dad bluebird pecks at cowbird egg to prevent it from hatching...
• These birds trick others into raising their gigantic kids

       All other birds build nests for their families. Some of these are soft and downy, being made of grasses and lined with feathers, little bits of cloth or down, while others are rough and coarse, constructed with sticks and stones and built high on rocks where enemies cannot reach them. The penquin lays its eggs on bare rocks. The only nest of the ostrich is a hole dug in the warm sand, where the heat of the sun hatches the eggs. One of the most carefully built nests is that of the oriole. It is from six to eight inches in length and is swung from a tree branch which is well protected with foliage. The oriole isa careful builder; it uses grass, string, hair, strips of bark, etc. Not all nests are made of materials we have named. Some birds, among them the swallow, build of mud or clay; others, like the kingfisher, build tunnels into the bank of river or lake, with an opening near the water, and lay their eggs deep away from sight.
       Many birds return to the same nest a second year, while others, like the robin, may keep their homes only long enough to rear one brood of little ones and then abandon it. Leonard and Hill

 Varieties of nests illustrated above:

1. Baltimore Oriole: Facts, paper bird printable, stained glass template, poem, mini-book page
2. Humming Bird: Facts, mini book page, paper chain, 
3. Robin: The Eastern Robin article, and facts, mini-book page, window decorations, story and Summer Lullaby and Drawing birds in their habitat
4. Goldfinch: facts, mini-book page, poem, how to draw
5. Wren: mini book page, poem, story and Drawing birds in their habitat
6. Scarlet Tanager: What Birds Eat
7. Red-Winged Blackbird: Drawing birds in their habitat and The Red Winged Blackbird article and facts, mini-book page, poem, story
8. Chimney Swift: The Chimney Swift article