Every nest is a secret that should be left alone. But some bird nurseries are found by accident and the beauty and miracle that went into each one is inspiring. And many are seen in winter when the foliage is off deciduous trees and bushes.
The nests of several kinds of small birds nesting in southeastern Pennsylvania, as elsewhere in North America, are beautiful and/or unusual, lending more touches of intrigue to this overly populated area. Most of the bird species that make those lovely cradles are camouflaged and eat invertebrates during the warmer months when those little creatures are available. And all bird species create their lovely cradles by instinct. They are born with the knowledge of nest building.
Female Baltimore orioles are famous for their unique and beautiful pouches swinging from the twiggy tips of tree branches that hang over meadows, water, roads and other open habitats. Each oriole weaves rootlets, twigs and grasses through each other and over the supporting twigs to attach their three-inch-deep creations to them.
The lovely nurseries of American goldfinches are mostly made of thistle seed down. In fact, female goldfinches generally don't build nests until July when thistle plants develop seeds, each one with a fluffy parachute that carries it away on the wind.
The soft, beautiful goldfinch cradles are composed of thistle down and fine grasses, and held together and attached to twigs on a young tree by spider webs. Goldfinches mostly eat thistle seeds and other seeds as they become available.
The only blue-gray gnatcatcher nests I have ever seen are those blown to the ground by strong wind. Gnatcatchers are tiny birds of wooded bottomlands. Females make their pretty, little cradles of plant down, fine grass and bits of lichens and bind them together, and to twigs, with spider webbing. The lichens on the outside walls help camouflage those nests.
The tiny, lovely nurseries of ruby-throated hummingbirds are nearly impossible to see perched on top of thin limbs. But if spotted, each one looks like a little fairy bed on a small branch. Only an inch and a half across, ruby-throats' soft cradles are made of plant fibers and lichens and, again, bound together and to the branch by spider webs. Hummingbirds ingest nectar and tiny insects.
Chipping sparrows make pretty, little nurseries of fine grasses, lined with hair, where available. Most chippers build their nests in planted, young arborvitae trees that have flattened, closely packed needles that create great shelter against predators and the weather.
The pretty, little cradles of red-eyed vireos and Acadian flycatchers, as examples of their respective families, are made of grass, rootlets and plant fibers and suspended below thin, forked twigs at the ends of limbs. They are held in shape and attached to supporting twigs by, you guessed it, spider webbing. Spiders, obviously, are important to many kinds of small birds that build little nurseries to hatch their young in.
Chimney swifts build platforms of small twigs on the inside walls of chimneys in towns and cities. They use their saliva as a strong glue to bind the twigs to each other and to a wall.
Swifts originally nested down the inside of hollow, broken-off trees, but, to them, chimneys are like those tree hollows. And because of the number of chimneys in North America today, there are more swifts than ever in their life history. Swifts spend all day, every day, zipping across the sky after flying insects, their only food.
Barn swallows and cliff swallows plaster mud pellet cradles on support beams in barns and under bridges, and on the sides of buildings. They originally nested in the mouths of caves and on cliffs respectively. But like swifts, they are more abundant today than ever before because of the many human-made structures they nest on. And like swifts, they catch flying insects all day, but in farmland.
Nearly impossible to see from the ground, the pretty nests of eastern wood pewees are tied by spider webbing to the upper sides of thin, horizontal tree limbs in woodlands. Pewee nurseries are made of twigs, rootlets, plant fibers, lichens and spider webs. Male pewees sing lovely "pee-a-wee, pee-oooo" songs off and on all day. But their whistled phrases are particularly heart-rending at dusk and into the gathering darkness.
Most of these birds' nests are hard to spot, but it's neat to know they are out there with lots of beauties. Bird nurseries should always be left alone, but some of those cradles are visible in winter when they are not being used.
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