Birds and their nests

BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS: v17.05, 141 photos, 8 additions including 2 new species.
This gallery contains photos intended to illustrate the nests that birds build and occupy – not all birds I hasten to add. Also included are photos relating to the collection and transport of materials that are used in the building process. It is common knowledge that some species build inside nesting boxes and most of the photos here are self-explanatory but I include the following notes in case they are of interest. Certainly, I could have watched displays like the Moorhens for a long while.
Variants of the twig design are possibly the most common types of birds’ nests. However some birds ‘nest’ on bare ground (e.g. Kentish Plover, Little Tern) while many others deploy a range of solutions to assist the breeding process.
Some birds nest on mini islands (e.g. Great Crested Grebe, some Black-winged Stilts), others make mud bricks to form nests (e.g. House Martins, Red-rumped Swallows). The Red-rumped Swallow’s nest is quite distinctive [RrS 1] and following its use of the nest the White-rumped Swift (after a few small changes) often takes over occupancy [WrS 1].
Gannets nest on rocks with a ‘cushion’ of sea weed while Shags in a similar location seem to prefer a twig base.
Woodpeckers, as their name might suggest, make holes in trees – in the case of this gallery a Pine Tree for the Great Spotted and a Palm Tree for the Iberian race of the Green Woodpecker.
House Sparrows build twig nests or use buildings but they also ‘borrow’ the nests of House Martins (HS 01). Often Spanish Sparrows will build a series of nests in the side walls of the much larger nest of a White Stork. The White Stork builds much of its nest with twigs found not too far away. The ‘lining’ may have to come from further afield.
In flight most birds carry materials in their bills but Ospreys, for example, use their feet – perhaps because that is how they carry their prey.
V16.05 ADDITIONS: The 3 additions illustrate 2 nesting places used by White-tailed Eagles. One is in a tree and the other in a rock face.
V17.05 ADDITIONS: The two new species constitute 2 photos of a Canada Goose and 4 of a Greylag Goose on their nets. There are also 2 photos of a Willow Warbler carrying material back to the nest.