Designs of Nature - Bird Nests [Not in Hands-On Nature]

Notice: The collection of birds' nests is illegal under federal law. VINS will supply each town with a permit to use as well as nests to examine. Towns must return the nests provided.

Focus: Created in a great variety of designs and located in nearly every habitat, bird nests can tell us much about the birds that built them.

For Background and Activities please see the Coordinator's binder.

Puppets (Mr. Bluebird, Mrs. Bluebird, Ms. Red-eyed Vireo, Mr. Phoebe, Mr. Goldfinch)

Materials Checklist
Slide Show (slide show, projector, screen)
Take a Closer Look (nest set, paper, pencils)
Eye Spy (K-2) (nest set, paper, bird puppets - one for each nest type, Nest Identification script)
Nest Identification (3-6) (nest set, copies of nest key, rulers, hand lenses, note cards, pencils, bird field guides)
Reconstruction Relay (forked twigs, nest-building materials including yarn, string, hay, twigs, grass, egg-shaped rocks)
Puppet Show (puppets, script)

Supplemental Reference Materials (Northern oriole and robin props for Eye Spy, Slide show scripts: Grades K-2, Grades 3-6, Munch a Bunch of Bird Nests, Building a Nest Guide)

Additional Reading/Resources
Bird Nests and Construction Behavior, by Mike Hansell, Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Birds Build Nests, by Elaine Pasco, Gareth Stevens, Milwaukee, WI, 2002.
A Field Guide to the Birds' Nests (Peterson Field Guide), by Ned Smith, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA, 1998.
Great web site of a hummingbird with nest and young birds
Participate in the Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas, a five-year survey of birds nesting in Vermont.

ELF Notes - Template for newsletter on Bird Nests
* Word document * pdf file

For Younger Children
Many of the activities in VINS's new Small Wonders book can be used in ELF, too. To find appropriate activities for children aged 3-6, click here.

Teaching Suggestions
The emphasis of this unit is “What can we learn about birds from the design of their nests”: size of bird, habitat, predators, etc.

Take a Closer Look
It may help minimize dust if you dampen nests slightly with water from a spray bottle before examination.

Nest Identification Please take good care of these nests as they will be used year after year by other ELF schools!

One town combined the Nest Identification and Eye Spy Nest Identification activities to compare different nests and practice using a key to identify nest makers. They started by using the key to identify one nest as a class (phoebe works well as first nest since often it is difficult to notice that the nest contains mud). After the first nest was identified, students rotated through stations; each station had a nest that was labeled with a letter. Using rulers and hand lenses, students examined the size of the nest and the materials in it, and then used the key to determine what kind of bird made each nest. Working quietly, students recorded their answers by writing down the letter and their bird builder guess next to it on a note card. Groups then rotated through all the nests, repeating this process. Once students were finished and still standing at their final station, the leader held up a bird puppet and read the description form the Nest Identification script of its nest. The children decided if it was their group's nest being described. If so, they raised their hands and the leader set the puppet next to that nest. The final question was: Who can tell me what kind of nest design all of these nests are? The clue is that they were all made by songbirds!”

One school made a visual bird nest key with pictures of each bird at the end.

Reconstruction Relay
Young students can make nests inside strawberry baskets, lining with mud, sticks, grass, etc. Each child would then have a nest to take home (in a plastic bag).

You could use foil-wrapped chocolate eggs instead of rocks to place inside the built nests. Make sure you have enough so all children can eat theirs.

To help avoid the problem of who gets to take the nest home after making nests, provide a bucket for nest materials and ask children to disassemble theirs. Then you can take those materials outside so real birds may use them.

Have children look for and use natural materials in building their nests. This way they get an idea of what materials would be available for birds to use AND the materials can be “recycled.”

Since this is done in small groups, digitally photographing the finished nests is a nice way to provide each child with something to take home.

Outside
Focus on finding nest materials that birds might use. Remind students that different birds use different materials and position nests in different places according to their habits and habitat.

If you are in a city environment, take a walk through the neighborhood to look for nests or potential nesting sites. Have the children consider: What birds normally nest in the city? And where? Then, ask pairs or small groups of children to pretend to be a bird. It is late winter and you must find a nesting site with your mate. You might assign each pair of children a specific kind of common city bird: robins, jays, pigeons, sparrows, woodpeckers, phoebes, chickadees, etc. When choosing a nesting site for their bird, children should consider: What food is nearby? What predators (including pets) might pose a threat? Some birds find that the dense branches of ornamental shrubs or cedar hedges make well-hidden nesting locations. Some birds prefer nests in garages or on buildings, for example, pigeons and phoebes who make nests under eaves, on building ornamentation or on air conditioners. Others use the branches of street trees; a dead tree may provide a cavity for nesting. A ground nester might find a suitable spot in a backyard, park or woods.

Extensions
Nest Material Board: instead of a pegboard, you can use a clothes hanger to create a nesting material "board" by simply tying on yarn, string, horsehair, whatever.

Learning Goals

Concepts/Ideas

• Birds build nests to hold and protect eggs during incubation. Once eggs hatch, the nest may also provide a safe home for nestlings.
• Nest design varies in complexity from simple ground nests to more complex cavity, platform, or cup nests.
• Nest design and materials used in construction tell about the size, habitat and habits of the birds that build them.

Vocabulary: incubate, nestling, cavity nest, platform nest, cup nest, pensile, pendulous (definitions)

Skills

• Examining bird nests to compare the variation in designs and materials used in construction.
• Comparing and contrasting different bird nests and using ruler, hand lens, nest key, and bird field guides to identify the birds that made them.
• Actively listening, discussing, and modeling to understand why and how birds build nests.

Grade Expectations:
Grades PK-K (S30) Birds are living animals. A bird uses its beak and feet to collect material to build a nest to hold and protect its eggs and young. There are many variations in nest design.

Grades 1-2 (S30) Birds have body parts that enable them to build a nest to protect their eggs and their young. Each kind of bird has a unique nest design.

Grades 3-4 (S30) The time of year birds build their nests is related to mating and reproductive cycle. A nest's design and the materials used in construction relate to the bird's size, habitat and behavioral characteristics.

Grades 5-6 (S38) Nest design varies in complexity from ground nests to more complex cavity, platform, or cup nests. Size, structure, materials used and location of the nest are features used to identify the kind of bird that constructed the nest.

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