My boys brought me this nest that they found among the branches. I knew there was an abandoned nest up there and it was exciting to see it close-up.
We were able to only see the stick part from underneath but now we see it is lined with soft grasses for the eggs and babies.
We know it is from a Western Scrub Jay because we watched the baby birds fly away this past spring. We know they have a new tree to nest in across the yard...it has better protection and we think they may even have another nest there too.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Amazing, uh? these nests. I found one in the Netherlands and one in Italy. (pictures are here):
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One is from a Great Tit and the other from a Goldfinch. Almost the same in size, but very different in materials since they nest in different landscapes and trees. Makes you wonder how they built these tiny woven nests with their little beaks...
Great photo's of your Western Scrub Jay nest.
Thanks, Barb for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. Indeed, the European and American Goldfinch probably only have their size in common.
ReplyDeleteThe nest of your Western Scrub Jay is so clever: it has these big sticks outer 'walls' and soft materials for the nesting area. Clever engineers!
Barb, that is so neat! My husband found 3 nests in our yard over the past couple of months while we were doing yard work. It's so neat to see how each of the nests is made so differently. I got a book recently, Birds' Nests (Peterson Field Guide), to see if we could figure out which birds made them. I haven't made it that far yet. I'm not sure but I think one might have been constructed by a robin. It's really interesting and fascinating!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see photos of the nests, I'm going to post them on my blog at http://littlekissesfromGod.blogspot.com/. You may not be able to tell very well but they are made so differently.
Thanks for sharing.