nests – Brigitte Brulz

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I had mentioned in a previous post that your little ones can be scientists by taking a nature walk to make some fun discoveries.

Besides finding tracks, little ones may have fun finding nests (without touching or disturbing them). I have been doing some research recently on nests.

While doing research on nests, I watched multiple videos on animals building nests. They are all so intriguing to me, so I have decided to share a few of them with you.

If you would like to watch a weaver bird build a nest, you may enjoy the four and a half minute video entitled Watch a Weaver Bird Build a Nest in a Day.
If you would like to watch swallows build mud nests, you may enjoy Swallow Nest Build Time Lapse and/or Swallow Nest Building 2010. They are each about seven minutes long.
Birds aren’t the only ones who build nests! Check out Mountain Gorilla Impamo building a nest.

Many other animals such as wasps, bees, squirrels, mice, and chimpanzees also build nests.

My family has enjoyed walking through the woods while the trees are bare to find bird nests and squirrel nests. I have taken some pictures of nests that we have spotted over the years.

This bird nest was easy to find in a tree.

Last summer, one of my daughters and I spent a few days together at a camp. We enjoyed finding nests in random places throughout the camp.

This one was in the corner of a gazebo.

This one was in another outside structure.

This nest was on the side of one of the buildings on a light.

Just as a side note: Nests on lights make me a little nervous. Years ago, I had a bird build its nest in my light fixture on the front of my garage. I turned the lights on late one night, and the nest caught on fire as my family was in the house sleeping. Thankfully, I was awake and noticed the reflection of the fire in my car windshield through the front window of the house. My husband (who had been sleeping) was quick to put the fire out with the hose attached to the front of our house when I yelled “fire”. My daughters slept through it all. Unfortunately for the bird, the nest was completely destroyed. I thank God, though, that we only had to replace the light fixture and siding on our house. I now make sure there aren’t any birds attempting to build nests near any of my lights.

This nest was above the back deck on the cabin we slept in. My daughter and I had fun playing card games on the deck as the mom bird flew back and forth to the nest.

This bird built its nest along the side of a wall. This reminds me of all of the swallow mud nests my family has seen crammed together on the bottom of bridges. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of those.

Last spring, we found this nest on the back of a satellite dish.

We have seen multiple bald eagle nests along the Mississippi River. They are huge! The parents return to the nest and continue to add to it each year. This is a picture of a bald eagle’s nest replica at a nature center.

Did you know it takes years before a bald eagle gets its white feathers on its head and tail? Each year, you can watch bald eagles live on their nest on the Decorah Eagles Camera.

I remember when I was little, my parents often had killdeers lay eggs in their rocks on the ground. Whenever someone would walk even remotely close to the rocks, the mom would start hopping away as though she had a broken wing.

It is amazing to me how each nest is built to be perfectly suited for that particular creature. I am intrigued by the variety of shapes, sizes, and building materials of each of the nests. I believe God did an amazing job when he created animals capable of building such detailed nests.