Identifying bird species by the unique shapes and styles of their nests takes some careful observation and knowledge. With over 10,000 species of birds in the world, there is considerable diversity in nest structures. Learning to recognize the key features and signatures of different nest types can reveal the avian architect and occupants. This guide covers 10 common bird nest shapes and styles to help identify the species that built them.
Cup Nests
Cup-shaped nests with inner depressions are some of the most archetypal bird nest structures. They provide a secure place for eggs and nestlings, with sides to prevent loss. Many common garden birds build classic cup nests.
Robins
The American Robin is widespread and familiar across North America. They build a sturdy nest of grasses, twigs, paper fibers and mud, neatly woven together into a cup structure. Robins often situate their nests on horizontal branches or ledges of trees, 5-15 feet off the ground.
Inside the coarse outer materials, they line the cup interior with fine grasses or dead leaves for warmth and comfort. Female robins lay 3-5 sky blue eggs. Parents incubate the eggs for 12-14 days before they hatch.
Sparrows
Ground-dwelling sparrow species like the Chipping Sparrow build delicate cup nests low in bushes, shrubs and small conifer trees. They construct the outer nest walls with grasses and twigs, then line the inner cup with soft finer materials like rabbit fur or sheep’s wool.
Nests have a diameter of around 6 inches, with an inner depth of 1.5 inches to cradle the eggs. Sparrows lay small white or pale blue eggs with brown speckles, in clutches of 3-5. After 11-14 days incubating, the eggs hatch.
Finches
Many bright yellow finch species craft elegant compact cup nests. American Goldfinches weave plant fibers, grasses and feathers into a tidy roundish cup shape 3-5 inches wide. The cozy inner lining feathers or down offer insulation and softness.
Goldfinches often nest high in tree canopies but also lower in shrubs. The female lays 3–6 pale blue or white eggs and incubates them for 11–17 days before hatching.
Wrens
From Carolina Wrens to Cactus Wrens, these tiny songbirds build globular nests with side entrances and often domed tops. Nest exteriors camouflage into the surroundings with grasses, twigs and mosses woven together.
The inside comprises a cup of soft lining feathers, hair or grass to protect eggs and new hatchlings. Wrens lay speckled tan, pink or reddish eggs in quantities around 5-6. After incubating for 12-16 days, the young wrens hatch.
Saucer or Plate Nests
Unlike deep cups, plate or saucer styled nests have a broad shallow bowl shape. These exposed and expansive nests belong to ground nesting species like plovers and nightjars.
Killdeer
Killdeer are large shorebirds found in open fields and gravel areas. They scrape a shallow bare depression in the ground, forming a basic cradle shape. Lining materials are sparse, with sometimes a ring of pebbles or shell fragments around the perimeter.
Their speckled brownish eggs have dark blotches to camouflage against ground debris. The eggs blend into their surroundings to evade detection. Killdeer lay 3-6 eggs and incubate them for 22-28 days.
Nighthawks
In open scrub lands, Common Nighthawks construct minimalist nests. They lay their cryptically patterned eggs directly onto gravelly ground. Without gathering materials, they simply use their bodies to scrape a depression about 2 inches deep in bare substrate.
Their eggs exhibit mottled gray, brown and black markings to disappear against rocks. Nighthawk eggs incubate for 18-20 days before hatching.
Scraped Ground Hollows
Some birds opt for practicality over craftsmanship, skipping nest construction altogether. Species like shorebirds, terns and nightjars often lay eggs in mere hollows scraped out of sand or gravel, relying on camouflage to protect their eggs.
Plovers
Plover species like Killdeer, Piping Plovers and Snowy Plovers nest directly on open sandy ground. Using their bodies, the plovers rotate and shift to carve a shallow dish shaped depression 1-2 inches deep in the substrate.
Their speckled or camouflaged eggs blend into beach pebbles and sand. Plovers commonly lay 2-6 eggs and incubate them for around 26-31 days.
Terns
Terns inhabit shorelines and scrape rudimentary nest hollows out of beach sand or gravel. Least Terns nest on ocean beaches while Forster’s Terns use marshy areas. They settle into the substrate and gyrate to form a bare concave hollow.
Clutch sizes are 1-3 eggs for Least Terns, and 2-4 for Forster’s. Their brown speckled eggs incubate for 20-25 days before hatching.
Oystercatchers
American Oystercatchers breed along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where they nest on open sandy beaches and saltmarsh islands. Using their feet, they scrape simple unlined depressions in the ground 6-18 inches across.
Their brown blotchy eggs mimic sand grains and shells. Oystercatchers lay 1-4 eggs that incubate for 24-29 days before hatching.
Burrow Nests
Some species adopt an underground approach, nesting in burrows excavated out of soil, sand, or the abandoned tunnels of other animals. These special cavity nests provide greater protection, insulation and shelter.
Kingfishers
Belted Kingfishers dig nesting tunnels up to 8 feet deep into vertical earthen banks fronting onto waterways. At the end of the burrow, they create a nest chamber lined with regurgitated fish bones and excrement.
The female lays 5-8 glossy white eggs which incubate for 3-4 weeks before hatching. Kingfisher chicks remain in the burrow for 4-5 weeks before fledging.
Bank Swallows
Bank Swallows bore into vertical banks and cliffs near water to build their nesting burrows up to 3 feet deep. Small colonies tunnel together, creating a series of adjoining burrows. The burrow ends in an enlarged chamber.
They fashion the cup-shaped nest out of grasses and feathers at the end of the tunnel. Clutch sizes average 4-5 white eggs with brown spotting. After 2 weeks incubating, the young swallows hatch.
Nuthatches
Red-breasted Nuthatches excavate nest cavities high in the dead wood of tree trunks. They chip away substrate with their bills, hollowing out a tunnel up to 16 inches deep. At the inner end, the female builds a cup nest lined with bark fibers, feathers and fur.
She lays 5-9 white eggs dotted with reddish spots. After incubating for 14-16 days, the eggs hatch.
Puffins
Atlantic Puffins and other puffin species nest in underground rock burrows on isolated islands. They use their sharp colorful bills to slowly excavate tunnel nests 1-8 feet long in soft soil or friable rock. Nest chambers at the end are lined with plants and feathers.
The single white egg incubates for around 40-45 days before hatching. Parents bring fish to feed the puffin chick.
Sand Martins
The Sand Martin breeds in Europe, Asia and North Africa in colonies excavating tunnels in steep sandy banks. Their burrows extend 2-4 feet deep, with a nest chamber lined with grasses, leaves and feathers.
Females lay 3-6 white eggs, incubating them for 13-16 days before hatching. Chicks spend 4-5 weeks in the burrow before fledging.
Stick Nests
Sturdy stick nests contain substantial amounts of twigs and branches providing structural integrity. Raptors like hawks and owls build impressive stick nests to support themselves and their young.
Hawks
Large stick nests high in tree canopies belong to hawk species like Red-tailed Hawks and Red-shouldered Hawks. They break branches and twigs with their powerful beaks and talons, weaving them into bulky nests up to 5 feet wide.
Nests have an inner bowl lined with bark strips, moss, leaves or corn husks. 1-5 lightly colored eggs hatch after 4-5 weeks.
Eagles
Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles construct enormous stick nests, known as aeries. They use dead tree branches, corn stalks and other plant matter, amassing over 1 ton of material. The substantial platform nests brace against tree crotches or clifftops.
Eagles add fresh lining each breeding season and may reuse nests repeatedly. 1-3 dull white eggs hatch after 5-6 weeks.
Owls
Powerful talons allow owls like Great Horned Owls to aggressively break sticks and weave them into sturdy nest structures. Their nests are typically lined with dead leaves, shredded bark or grasses.
Owls add material each year, with large nests growing to over 6 feet deep and 4 feet wide after repeated use. Owls lay 1-4 white eggs that incubate for 4-5 weeks.
Platform Nests
Platform nests have flat bottoms made from an assemblage of materials glued together into a secure base for eggs and chicks. They provide stable supportive surfaces for species like mallards and eagles.
Ducks
Female ducks like Mallards craft robust basket-like nests on the ground or in marsh vegetation above the waterline. They weave together grasses, reeds, leaves and vegetation, forming a bulky platform 8-10 inches across.
The dense nest walls help insulate eggs during incubation. Ducks lay 6-15 whitish or green-tinged eggs for 25-30 days.
Ospreys
Ospreys build enormous platform nests high up on dead trees, channel markers, cell phone towers or specially erected pylons. Nests comprise an immense heap of sticks, sod and other material up to 6 feet wide and 3 feet high.
The flat expansive interior cradles 2-4 whitish eggs dotted with reddish brown. Eggs incubate for about 5 weeks before hatching.
Jaegers
Jaegers like Pomarine Jaegers and Parasitic Jaegers scrape rudimentary depressions in the ground on windswept Arctic tundra. Just barely qualifying as nests, their shallow bare hollows have raised edges made by piling up surrounding sticks and debris.
The simple circle of materials helps contain 2-3 olive-brown blotched eggs. After incubating 3-4 weeks the brown, black and white chicks hatch.
Woven Nests
Some of the most intricate and complex nests employ weaving or sewing techniques. Species like weaverbirds and orioles intricately stitch plant materials together into suspended purse or basket shapes.
Orioles
Oriole species craft breathtakingly elegant suspended nests. Baltimore Orioles weave long plant fibers, string, hair and other filaments into a pouch suspended from tree branches. The pendulous structure has a narrow tubular entrance on the bottom.
The female lays 3-7 white eggs with purple or brown markings. Eggs hatch after 12-14 days.
Weaverbirds
Africa’s sociable weaverbirds build massive communal nests housing up to 100 pairs. They weave and knot together twigs, grasses, fibers and wool into giant haystack shaped structures in trees or on telephone poles.
The interior contains many separate nesting chambers, each with its own tubular entrance tunnel facing downward. Females lay 2-4 white eggs, incubating them for around 14 days before hatching.
Mud Nests
Mud offers excellent natural adhesive and insulation properties. Mud nests allow tight construction and structural soundness. Some swifts and swallows exploit mud’s many benefits.
Swallows
Cliff swallows, barn swallows and other species build gourd-shaped nests of mud pellets fixed to vertical surfaces. Working as a colony, they ferry beakfuls of wet mud to form rows of nests under cliff overhangs or eaves.
Their mudflask shaped structures have a tunnel entrance on the side. Inside is a cup nest lined with grasses and feathers. 3-7 white eggs incubate for 12-17 days before hatching.
Swifts
Swifts like Chimney Swifts construct bracket-shaped half cup nests of mud and saliva stuck to vertical rock faces and cave walls. They break off bits of wet mud which are bound with their sticky saliva.
The shallow open mud nests support 3-5 glossy white eggs laid inside on a bed of twigs. After 19-21 days incubating, the eggs hatch.
Floating Nests
Remarkably, some species build complete free-floating nests in swamps and marshes. These buoyant nests rise and fall with changing water levels, keeping eggs safely above the waterline.
Coots
American Coots build bulky bowl-shaped nests anchored to marsh vegetation. They pile up wet plant material and mud, forming a mound 10-20 inches across. An opening on the side allows access.
As the nests soak up water, they eventually detach and become floating island platforms. The female lays 6-15 eggs on a lining of grasses and incubates them 24-26 days.
Grebes
Grebes like Pied-billed Grebes construct floating platform nests in shallow wetlands. They pull together chunks of dead and decaying vegetation, interweaving them into a thick floating mat.
The wet material eventually becomes waterlogged, forming a low floating mound 6-10 inches high. 4-10 whitish eggs incubate for around 3 weeks before hatching.
Flamingos
In salt lakes and lagoons, Caribbean Flamingos breed in huge noisy colonies. Both sexes work together to build cone shaped 11 inch high muddy nest mounds on the lakebed. Thepexposed tops of the mud hills become coated in crystalline salt.
Flamingos lay one chalky white egg atop the nest mound. After incubating for 28-32 days, the grey downy chick hatches.
Raptor Reuse
To save work and take advantage of existing structures, some opportunistic raptors reoccupy and reuse the abandoned nests built by other species. These nest takeovers demonstrate efficiency and pragmatism.
Owls
Powerful owls like Great Horned Owls often take over the vacant stick nests of hawks, crows or squirrels as breeding sites. Their menacing presence deters former inhabitants from reclaiming the nest. Owls simply neaten the already built structure.
The female lays 1-4 white eggs to incubate within the borrowed nest for about 5 weeks before hatching.
Osprey
If natural nesting platforms are limited, Ospreys occasionally reuse the made nests of other large birds. They may inhabit a bald eagle or heron nest, adapting the existing structure for their needs. Ospreys add fresh lining before laying eggs.
2-3 whitish eggs with reddish brown speckles incubate for 5 weeks before hatching. The nest’s sturdy construction provides long lasting durability.
Falcons
Peregrine Falcons breeding on rocky cliffs and crevices occasionally move into vacant Common Raven nests, rather than build their own. The pre-made stick nests on ledges offer safety and shelter for eggs and chicks.
The female lays 3-4 reddish brown eggs with darker blotches. After about 4 weeks incubating, young peregrines hatch.
Brood Parasite Nests
Brood parasites like cuckoos and cowbirds take nest parasitism to the extreme, sneaking their eggs into the nests of other species to raise their young. The unsuspecting hosts incubate and feed the imposter chicks as their own.
Cowbirds
Brown-headed Cowbirds lay eggs in the nests of other songbirds like warblers or vireos. The female monitors nests before slipping in an egg when the host is away. The unsuspecting hosts raise the cowbird chick as their own, often at the detriment of their young.
Cowbirds build no nest at all. Their eggs vary in color to vaguely resemble the host species. Cowbird chicks often outcompete or eliminate the host’s chicks.
Cuckoos
Common Cuckoos and some other cuckoo species engage in brood parasitism of small passerines like reed warblers. Sneaky female cuckoos monitor potential host nests before laying their own egg in the nest when unattended.
The cuckoo chick hatches earlier, claiming dominance over the host chicks and monopolizing feedings. Cuckoos build no actual nests. Their eggs resemble the host’s in color.
Honeyguides
Africa’s honeyguides take parasitism even further, actively guiding humans to bee nests in trees. Humans extract the prized honey and wax while the honeyguide feeds on the leftover bee larvae and wax scraps.
Honeyguides like Greater Honeyguides don’t make their own nests. Females lay 2-4 white eggs in barbet, woodpecker and other hole nesting species. The unsuspecting hosts incubate and raise the imposter hatchlings.
Nest Identification Summary
Identifying bird species by their nest structures requires knowledge of key characteristics:
- Cup, bowl or platform shaped structures often denote songbirds.
- Raptors build large stick nests to support themselves.
- Cavity nesting birds favor holes in trees, cliffs or burrows.
- Intricately woven hanging nests belong to orioles and weaverbirds.
- Mud nests are characteristic of swifts and swallows.
- Floating nests indicate water birds like coots, grebes or flamingos.
- Brood