Back to main Discovery page

House Plans

Birds spend varying amounts of time and energy constructing their nests. Some spend days or weeks building a nest, while others simply scrape a small depression in the soil or pile a few twigs together.

Birds use a variety of materials to build their nests. The area the bird lives in determines the type of nesting materials used and the location of the nest. Some moorland birds use grasses for nesting material and make their nests on the ground. City birds may nest in chimneys, roofs and business signs. Some wetland birds may construct nests on floating mats of vegetation.

Some woodland birds make their nests of plant fibres, twigs and leaves. Some locate their nests above the ground in the branches of bushes and trees, while others nest on the ground or even inside a tree cavity. Some birds, like the long eared owl, do not build their own nests but use old nests of other animals. Cuckoos also do not make their own nests but lay their eggs in other birds' nests.

Birds use a variety of natural materials in their nests such as moss, mud, lichen, plant seeds, human and animal hair and even feathers. They may also use manmade items in nests, such as plastic, string, paper and aluminium foil.

Eggs are laid over many days. A nest of eggs is called a clutch. The time from when the last egg is laid and the last egg is hatched is called the incubation period. Hatching may take several hours, may even take days. Care and protection of young birds takes a lot of time. Some chicks are born fully feathered and able to see (precocial), like Partridge chicks that are able to follow their parents and feed themselves soon after hatching. Other birds are born with their eyes closed and without feathers (altricial), many birds like this including robins, blackbirds and starlings, remain in the nest to be fed by their parents.

Raising chicks is an endless, daily chore for the parents. Non-stop flights are made to gather food and clean the nest. To survive some chicks must eat half their body weight each day. Some may eat thousands of insects before they leave the nest.