About the Book
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 64. Chapters: Wingspan, Bird nest, Bird migration, Flight feather, Bird flight, Central Asian Flyway, Hawking, Mixed-species foraging flock, Gleaning, Brood parasite, Lek, Aviary, Hoarding, Nest box, Wildlife corridor, Fecal sac, Avian incubation, Distraction display, Altricial, Helpers at the nest, Chorioallantoic membrane, Snag, Precocial, Pish, Birdcage, Anting, List of terms used in bird topography, Alula, Zugunruhe, Overwintering, Urohidrosis, Sort sol, Cere, Drumming, Clutch, Uncinate processes of ribs, Jizz, Pecten oculi, Wattle, Egg tossing, Land birds, Kettle, Humphrey-Parkes terminology, Water bird, Rookery, Drift migration, Gorget, Crown, Superprecocial, Skylarking, Ring-tail harrier, Creche, Trap-lining. Excerpt: A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself-such as the grassy cup nest of the American Robin or Eurasian Blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the Montezuma Oropendola or the Village Weaver-that is too restrictive a definition. For some species, a nest is simply a shallow depression made in sand; for others, it is the knot-hole left by a broken branch, a burrow dug into the ground, a chamber drilled into a tree, an enormous rotting pile of vegetation and earth, a shelf made of dried saliva or a mud dome with an entrance tunnel. The smallest bird nests are those of some hummingbirds, tiny cups which can be a mere 2 cm (0.79 in) across and 2-3 cm (0.79-1.2 in) high. At the other extreme, some nest mounds built by the Dusky Scrubfowl measure more than 11 m (36 ft) in diameter and stand nearly 5 m (16 ft) tall. Not all species build nests. Some species lay their eggs directly on the ground or rocky ledges, while brood parasites lay theirs in the nests of other...
