Amazing facts about Bird Nest

Hello Steemians, Hope you are all wonderful. It's been a while since I wrote articles related to the STEM. Today I noticed a birds nest on top of a tree. The nest was quite attractive and made me observe it for quite some time. I thought why not read more about bird nests and write an article about it. People who love nature will definitely agree that nature is amazing. One will never get bored by observing the beauty of nature. Let's go further into the context of this article. A bird's nest is more like a home for the birds to lay eggs.

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The eggs hatch inside the nest and the young ones stay in the nest until they gain flight power to fly away from the nest and self-sustain. Not all the birds build nest only for laying eggs. There are some birds which build their nest and live in the nest throughout the year. They also make sure their nest is not affected by the natural calamities like sun's heat or rain. They build their nests in such a way that it prevents them throughout the year in all circumstances. Nests are usually built in different sizes. Some nests are bigger in size and some nests are extremely smaller in size.

Interesting facts about Bird Nests

As mentioned above the nesting procedures differ from one bird species to another. In most of the species, female takes the responsibility to build nests and lay eggs. In some cases, male helps the female but in some cases, the male species of the bird will not be doing any sort of help to build the nest. There are also some specifies species of birds where the male will do all the nest building activity and the responsibility of female is to choose the most attractive nest and mate with that male and lay eggs. Some specific species of males use their nest building skills to attract females.

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It usually takes lots of efforts and dedication to build a nest. Some nests will be very attractive and it will be very hard to believe that the birds are building it just as a one time task and not going to use it for the next season. Some birds display the eggs that they laid open to everyone who views their nest from an upper view but there are few species of birds who are highly secure about their eggs. The make the nests in such a way that the eggs are not visible to the eyes of the predators. It will be quite challenging for the predators to identify the eggs or young birds and attack them due to the complex structure of nests.

What are these bird nests made of?

Most of the birds use a combination of sticks and grass. They pick the right sticks and stitch it with grass to make sure it is strong enough to hold the weight of their eggs. Other common materials used by the birds to build the nest are leaves, mud, sticks, fur etc. The nest building methods and material usage differ from one species of bird to another. There are also some specific species of birds which build their nest will full mud. Gluing the combination of materials is very important to make sure the nest is intact and can hold enough weight. In order to glue the nest, birds use spider webs as one of the gluing material and along with that cotton, silk, thread-like grasses, mud etc. Some birds use their saliva to glue their nests.

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What will be inside the bird nests?

Most of the birds build a nest to place their eggs and protect them until hatching and even after they hatch. Only in some species a nest once built becomes their house throughout the year. It is important to wisely choose the right materials to place inside the nests. Birds usually pick some soft materials from places around their nest. These soft materials include cotton or sponge kind of items, feathers, soft grasses, mosses etc. Some birds even travel long distances in search of soft materials to place inside their nests. Some bird species don't bother about having soft items and all. They just roam around, gather some small sticks and place them inside the nest. Scientists believe that birds look for some specific herbs that have medicinal and anti-bacterial properties and place them inside their nests. Though this ideology is still under study/observation, we can understand that even birds are a bit cautious about using spices to stay away from bacteria.

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Types of Bird Nests

Bird nests are usually of different types. The type of the nest differs based on the type of bird and the locality they live in. It need not necessarily be on top of trees. Some birds live near water and they create nests near the shore on the floor. There are few birds that create a nest floating on water. Some birds make sure the nest is protected from predators and some fail to protect the eggs losing them to predators. Below are few types of birds nest:

Tree top nests

Eagles build their nest on top of the trees. Usually, the trees are huge and eagles choose the top region to build their nests and lay eggs. The size of the eagle nests are huge and as they are comparatively big birds their nests are quite strong and weigh about a ton. They also make sure they choose the right landscape to build their nests. The nests are usually near a lake or river region for the birds to get enough food to raise their young ones. Keeping the nest on top of the trees also helps in preventing it from being attacked by predators. By doing this they will be able to easily safeguard their young ones.

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Some species of birds build their nest only once in their lifetime and year after that they will be adding more features and enhancements to it. In case of eagles, the very first year when the nest is built, it is built smaller in size, later from the next year onwards they will be reusing the nest by adding more sticks to the nest. The sticks that eagles choose for building nests are usually stronger ones to withstand many years. They choose treetops to have a clear view of what is happening around them. They have sharp eyes. They sit near their nests and observe the activities happening in the ground. If they find a rat moving in the ground, they will immediately plan and make the rat as their food.

Nests floating in Water

Some species of birds which are highly dependent on water and water species to live, build their nests on top of the water. These nests are usually floating nests. There are many species of birds that build floating nests to raise their young ones. Species building such nests are usually water birds. The nests are made of sticks and plant materials. They also add some plant materials and grass materials on top of the nest to keep it soft. They also focus on bringing dead plant materials to pile it up along with other materials and sticks they have collected to make sure their nest floats and withstand enough weight.

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Birds usually bring plant materials to the surface of the nest to provide enough heat for incubation. Decayed plant materials are collected and placed on top of the floating nests to provide heat for the eggs. Not sure to what extent it will help in incubation but they cover the bottom part well so that the top layer of the nest where eggs will be placed remains dry.

Architectural nests

Some birds have good architectural sense in building their nests. Some of the birds like weavers and tailor birds have good crafting skills. As their name suggests. The nest building abilities of these birds are really amazing. The way they choose the materials needed to build their nests is still a surprise for us. These birds are capable of building durable nests that can last for all the seasons. They will also have water drying mechanisms to protects their nests during rainy seasons. These tailor birds use their beaks and grass materials to build an amazing nest. Same goes with weaver birds. They also make sure the grass materials they pick are highly durable. When we look at the way they build their nest, we can see that they hold the grass material with their feet and use their bills to weave the nest.

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Social nests

Social nests are the type of nest built by a group of birds together to be able to live like a colony. This type of nests is seen in a bird species called social weavers. There are also other birds which live together as a group. A group of birds joins hands together to become a colony and build their nests. They also protect each other in this social living. Usually, when birds build their nests, it is either the male's responsibility or the female's responsibility to protect the eggs. In this sociable bird group, they collectively form a community to protect each other.

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Decorative nests

Some birds build their nests to attract the females. Bowerbird is a particular type of bird species where made bird builds a decorative nest to attract the female. The female will choose the best or attractive nest after reviewing the works of different males. Twigs and grasses are used to build these nests. The interesting part is the colorful items that males use to decorate the nests. Male birds bring colorful items such as stones, pebbles, seeds or even a man-made colorful item and decorate their nests. It is kind of a competition to seek attention from the female. The most attractive nest will win the competition.

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References: [1], [2], [3], [4]

We are losing lots of bird species due to various reasons. You can do your part by helping birds build their nests and live happily. Few simple things you can do are:

1. Help a bird build building nest near your locality
2. Keep water for birds during the summer season.
3. Do not abuse birds by any means.
4. Try feeding birds in your locality with small grains or cooked food.

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