Recently, I’ve observed various birds flitting and gliding about as they carried nesting materials, usually heading to some hidden location.
Occasionally, I’ve been able to locate a nest and watch its assembly. Nest construction is one of nature’s incredible processes and varies greatly depending on the species of bird that is creating and/or using the nest.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds make the tiniest nests. Hummingbirds are just returning to New Hampshire, so they haven’t yet begun building their miniature nurseries. When they do, they will gather and weave together plant fibers, bud scales and lichen. The tiny cup, 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter, and about 2 inches tall, is lined with soft plant fuzz and held together with sticky spiderwebs. Due to its size and outer coating of lichen, the nest appears as a mossy knot on the tree limb, making it nearly impossible to locate.
On the other end of the spectrum, bald eagles create massive nests that may exceed the size of a king-sized bed and weigh as much as 2,000 pounds! They get so large in part because eagle pairs return to the same nest for many years, adding sticks, grasses and moss each year as part of their courtship and “housekeeping.” From incubation, which may begin in March, to mid-summer when the young leave the nest, these massive stick structures must accommodate one to three young birds and sometimes both parents all at the same time. When eaglets fledge, they are nearly the size of their parents. It takes a tall sturdy tree, often a white pine, to support such an enormous residence. Thanks to decades of conservation efforts, over 120 bald eagle pairs nested in New Hampshire in 2025.
Between those extremes, the size and variety of nests are as wide ranging as the species of birds that create them. One of my favorites is the ovenbird’s unusual nest. This brown, streaked bird looks more like a sparrow than a warbler and blends in with dried leaves on the forest floor. So does its nest, which consists of a depression on the ground, covered by a woven dome of grasses, stems, leaves, rootlets, mosses, bark and lined with rootlets and deer or horsehair. The dome gives it the appearance of a round-topped pizza oven or a colonial brick oven, which is how the bird got its name. The only time I’ve seen an ovenbird’s nest was when its occupant flew out of it as I unknowingly got too close.
One of the earliest nests that I learned to identify as a child was that of a Baltimore Oriole. Their distinctive sock-like nests hang from sweeping branches in tall trees. Historically they were constructed in elm trees. With the decline of elms due to the Dutch Elm Disease, orioles use maples and other deciduous trees. The nest materials include grass, strips of grapevine bark, wool, horsehair and even artificial fibers such as shredded pieces of blue tarps, twine or fishing lines. Being suspended from branches, these nests must sustain significant motion as they sway in the wind. The female uses her beak to weave fibers together, creating an outer bowl, then an inner bowl and adding soft fibers and feathers to cushion the eggs and young.
Birds like woodpeckers, chickadees and bluebirds make nests in holes within a tree. Brown creepers tuck theirs behind loose pieces of bark. Chimney swifts attach their nests to the inside of chimneys. Barn swallows build on the beams of a barn. Killdeer and nighthawks scrape a small depression in a gravel bed or beach. Peregrine falcons nest on cliff ledges. The list goes on. Many nests are works of art. Some are barely more than a spot on the ground. In their diversity, bird nests share the common purpose of providing a safe place for eggs to be laid and for at least a short time, young birds to grow.
If you are lucky enough to observe a nest during this season, be sure to watch from a distance and don’t disturb the parents or chicks. Raising baby birds is a lot of work, so staying away and letting the parents do their job is the best thing you can do to contribute to the success of the amazing nests and their occupants.