Page 19 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

NESTS AND EGGS

NEST SITES FOR ALL PURPOSES
Most nests are vulnerable to predators, which may
eat the eggs, chicks, and sometimes even the adult
that is within the nest. Even wooden nestboxes may
be raided by woodpeckers. So birds think about the
safest place to locate their nests. Small birds tend to
hide their nests away in thick bushes, or suspend TUNNELLING
them beneath the long branches of conifers. Many INTO SAND
Sand Martins dig a metre
species nest inside holes that they either stumble into a solid earth or soft
across or excavate themselves in trees or earth banks. sandstone cliff with their feet.
Larger species may rely on inaccessibility and make The inner end of the tunnel then
large nests of sticks in plain sight at broadens out into a nest chamber
the tops of trees. that will house four or five chicks.

NO NEST PLASTERWORK
The Little Ringed Plover makes a shallow scrape in sand for The Nuthatch uses a woodpecker’s hole or
its eggs, giving it little or no lining. When disturbed, the bird a natural hole in a tree. It plasters the entrance
runs off and relies on the eggs’ camouflage pattern to save with mud to get a perfect fit – just big enough
them. While hawks and eagles make large nests, falcons for it to squeeze inside – which should
never do: they lay their eggs straight onto a bare ledge. protect the nest from predators.
TREE HOLE
Woodpeckers, such as this Lesser
Spotted Woodpecker, excavate holes
in living trees, using their chisel-like bills.
The nest chamber is left unlined apart
from a few chippings.

FLOATING NEST
Black-necked Grebes build floating
heaps of weed that are anchored
to the bottom. If they have to
leave the site, they cover their
NESTING ON BUILDINGS eggs with a few scraps of
White Storks have long nested on buildings, weed in order to hide
especially on church towers, although them from predators. COMPLEX STRUCTURE
some still use trees. In parts of Europe they The Long-tailed Tit’s nest is a masterpiece
use telegraph poles. In Spain, poles with of spiders’ webs, moss, lichens, and
cartwheels are provided specially for them. feathers. It is hard to see, and stretches
as the chicks grow bigger.

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