Into the Nest

Exactly what the subtitle says. Lots of great photographs, details on how the featured bird species select a mate, build their nests, share parenting duties, feed the young, their development and how long it takes them to fledge, then become independent, etc. A bit on social structure, song types, migration patterns and other details as well. Most of the species in here are songbirds, but there’s also great blue herons, red-tailed hawks, pigeons, killdeer, herring gulls, mallards and great horned owls. I was delighted to come across a bunch of new facts.

Such as: robins in my area don’t really migrate. You think they’re gone all winter, but they’re just in scattered flocks traveling around to different food sources. They get noticed when the males start staking out individual territories on lawns in the spring again. Mourning doves build a nest so loosely woven that sometimes eggs fall out through the bottom of it! When you find a nest with eggs and no parent bird in sight, it’s probably not deserted. Many female birds don’t start incubating until all the eggs are laid- then they will hatch at the same time. Hummingbirds use spider silk in their nest construction, so it will stretch as the baby birds grow. Young hairy woodpeckers stack their heads on top of each other’s necks in the nest, and the one on top gets fed when the parent arrives. Then it moves its head down to the bottom, the next on top gets fed, and so on- so they all receive an equal amount of food (most hatchlings, the biggest beggar gets the most food and smaller ones fall behind in growth). Phoebes feed their older nestlings wasps and bees, which they first beat on branches to subdue (and possibly break off the stinger). Chickadees have a social hierarchy in their winter flocks, and pair up with mates that have the same position among the opposite gender. Nuthatches smear pine resin around the entrance to their nest, and sometimes smashed-up stinkbugs, too- apparently to deter predators. Mockingbirds never reuse a nest, they always build a new one. Eagles are known to build on the old nest year after year until it gets huge. And peregrine falcons habitually use the same ledges, generation after generation. One nest site in Australia had a heap of debris (excrement and food scraps) below the ledge with material at the bottom estimated to be 16,000 years old. Female chipping sparrows tend to nest in the same small area every year, but they don’t reuse the nest. Instead they might tear it apart and use the materials to build a new one.

And that’s just a small sample. I found it all very engaging to read about. Plus the pictures were just stellar.

Similar reads: Baby Birds: An Artist Looks Into the Nest by Julie Zickefoose, The Mating Lives of Birds by James Parry, What It’s Like to Be a Bird by David Sibley.

Borrowed from the public library.