Birds Nesting at Home

     Every summer, several kinds of adaptable and common small birds have raised young in our neighborhood in spite of noisy human activities.  Judging from the past, I assume they will nest again this summer.  During the last couple of weeks in May of 2016, I have seen 15 species of birds that probably will nest in our typically manicured suburban area of tall trees, bushes and short grass.
     Only one pair of each kind nests here because that is all each niche will support.  But there are several niches here, as in any maturing suburb in the Middle Atlantic States, therefore several types of birds, each in its own habitat, which allows those birds to live in harmony.
     Each species is handsome in its own colorful or camouflaged way.  Males of only four kinds are colorful, but their mates and both genders of most species blend into their surroundings, which helps keep them safe from cats and Cooper's hawks.  Use a field guide to eastern birds to see the color patterns on these bird species.
     All these birds daily come to a couple of bird baths we have on our lawn, and many seed-eating species also consume sunflower seeds from a nearby feeder, creating interesting shows.  Sometimes a few birds drink and bathe at once, or come and go in rapid succession, causing excitement.  One comes to know the daily habits and beauties of birds and mammals in a neighborhood by regularly watching bird baths and bird feeders.   
     Some of these neighborhood birds nest in planted trees.  A small colony of purple grackles rear offspring in a stand of a few half-grown Norway spruce trees we can see from our house.  The needles of the closely-growing limbs provide shelter for the young against weather, and crows and other predators that would eat the eggs and small young if they found them.
     Permanent resident pairs of house finches mostly rear young in the densely-needled boughs of  planted arborvitae trees, including in a neighbors'.  This species is originally from the American west, but were brought east as cage birds for sale.  But they were released when it was determined that their sale was illegal.  Male house finches sing lovely songs.
     Pairs of permanent resident blue jays and mourning doves also hatch young in half-grown coniferous trees planted on lawns, including ours.  Again the curtains of needles conceal eggs and young in their nurseries from bad weather, crows, hawks and other dangers.
     American robins and American goldfinches raise babies in well constructed cradles in young deciduous trees.  Female robins make nests of mud and fine grass while female goldfinches build beautiful nurseries of fine grass and thistle fluff, bound together and to a twig by spider webbing.
     Resident song sparrows and northern cardinals, and summering gray catbirds raise young in cradles built deep in planted shrubbery in our neighborhood, as they do in hedgerows.  Those handsome and compact nests are nearly impossible to see until winter when the foliage is off the bushes.    
     Both originally woodland species, resident Carolina chickadees and summering house wrens hatch young in bird boxes I erected in our back yard for them.  Chickadees have an advantage over wrens in that they nest first.  But wrens have an advantage over chickadees by being home-wreckers.  The wrens enter other birds' nests and break their eggs to discourage those victims and make them move away to a safer place to raise offspring.  But chickadees and house wrens are both interesting little birds and I let nature take its course, as it will anyway.
     Alien residents starlings and house sparrows, native residents Carolina wrens, and summering chimney swifts, all of which are quite adaptable, rear babies in crevices in buildings and other human-made objects in our neighborhood, as they do across much of North America.  Starlings hatch young in street lights, among other weird places.  Carolina wrens raise babies in outdoor grills and other odd, sheltering spots.  And swifts glue twig platforms down the inside of chimneys, using their saliva as the glue.
     All these species of birds in our yard, as elsewhere, have bright futures because they have adapted to human-made habitats in suburban areas.  The birds increase their numbers and we get to enjoy their beauties and intrigues on a daily basis.  Backyard birds and other creatures help make life sweet.