Talk:Bird nest

To do

There are still a number of sections to add to this article:

• Burrow needs to be completed.  Done
• Cup needs to be greatly expanded.
• Sub-sections need to be added for: Platform, Pendant/basket, Saucer, Dome/sphere.
• Nest sanitation.
• Evolution of nest-building, place in courtship.
• Colonial nesting (with pointer to main article - Bird colony).

—Preceding unsigned comment added by MeegsC (talk • contribs) 18:15, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Also needs more and better illustrations (see commons). There isn't any information about woven hanging nests. --EncycloPetey 19:53, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Go easy on me EncycloPetey—I just moved this over to article space and know it still needs work! It's certainly a vast improvement over the current Nest article, which was all we had before today! Woven hanging nests are already in the list of things to be added: those would be the pendant/basket nests. MeegsC | Talk 20:33, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Sorry if I seemed pushy; I'm just documenting suggestions. You've done a nice job of starting the article! I was a little surprised that there wasn't a separate article on this topic before now, but then plant physiology didn't have an article until a few days ago when I wrote one. Note: For the DYK nomination, I added a nice picture from Commons. --EncycloPetey 23:00, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I came here from the DYK link and have no idea about birds or their nests. However, Could I suggest adding some of the info on this page to other pages or linking it back to here (ie there is currently no info on the Dusky Scrubfowl page about how huge it's nests are.)

--Westralian 11:14, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Good idea Westralian; I'll work on incorporating the information into the appropriate articles over the next few weeks... MeegsC | Talk 11:48, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Need to include Flamingo nesting (raised mounds of mud - what kind is that ?) Done and floating reed (platform?) neests of Grebes. Shyamal 08:25, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

Nest protection and sanitation

I'm not sure combining these two subjects into one section is the best way to present the information; they're really unrelated subjects. If others feel that protection strategies shouldn't be integrated into the nest-type sections—I had initially included them there since protection strategies are strongly influenced by the type of nest being protected—then I think we should consider breaking them out into their own section rather than combining them with sanitation. What do you other editors think?? MeegsC | Talk 23:57, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Feel free to restructure. I felt that sanitation was protection from parasites and pathogens while protection was from predators and so saw them as similar. Shyamal 02:20, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Ah! I see your point. Perhaps we could make it two subsections of the same overall section (called perhaps something like "Nest protection", with subsections maybe "From predators" and "From pathogens and parasites"). Once we've got all the bits and pieces added, we can decide what feels right. Thanks for all your help on this, by the way. I'm in Oz at the moment, and so away from all my books and journals! MeegsC | Talk 06:58, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I have video footage of a bird swallowing its youngs excreta, which I'm happy to upload and make PD, however I am completely un-confident about editting a main wiki page, or even if this sort of material is wanted; so really looking for one of the knowledgeable people in this area to make a call. Rlb79 (talk) 01:34, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Hi there Rlb79! We'd definitely welcome the video you're offering, and there is a tutorial for adding media at Wikipedia:Creation and usage of media files. Don't worry about playing with articles, you can't do any permanent damage and everyone makes a few mistakes as they learn. Be bold and jump in, that is the whole point. If you mess everything up and can't fix it then leave a message on my talk page and I can help. Sabine's Sunbird talk 04:53, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Nice work

Great DYK, keep up the good work on bird articles! Richard001 11:04, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree. I was taken aback when I first visited - It looks more like a featured article than a recent article. It's hard to believe that it has only been "live" for less than four days. -- 13:29, 28 September 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.33.121.200 (talk)

I agree. Lovely article!! Lady BlahDeBlah 14:09, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

I swear this looks more like a FA than a DYK entry! *scratches head* Resurgent insurgent 15:02, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Bird nest as food

Mention should be made of the Chinese bird's nest soup; I think we can mention that in the article in a better way than a crude disambiguation hatnote. Resurgent insurgent 15:11, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

P.S. Guess what shows up as #1 Google hit for both "bird nest" and "bird's nest". :( Resurgent insurgent 15:18, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Shyamal for adding it. :) Resurgent insurgent 01:50, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing out the gaps :) Shyamal 02:20, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

Nidification

I just thought of creating a redirect and discovered a whole article out there :( The two obviously need merging and I would vote for the simpler bird nest to the rather archaic Nidification which was quite a popular term in Victorian ornithology. Shyamal 05:04, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Merge, obviously as nest. Most of nidification can just be dumped. The only significant different bit is that on incubation, but I'm not sure of the current validity of the quoted research. Jimfbleak 09:51, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Most (if not all) of the nidification article appears to have been lifted directly from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica; Wikipedia guidelines suggest this not be done as a matter of course. We have an avian incubation article already, and can certainly tie to it from the Bird nest article (as we've done with bird colony. MeegsC | Talk 12:01, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Merge to "bird nest" as above. —JerryFriedman 21:08, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks all. Redirected Nidification to this article. Could not find any information worth including here. Shyamal 03:22, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

I think Nidification should really have its own page as the term refers to nest building and nesting behaviour in many different types of animals other than birds (dung beetles for example). --Pappa (talk) 09:07, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Maybe it can be made into a disambiguation if there are other nest articles. Shyamal (talk) 09:24, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

A few suggestions

I see on the Wikipedia:One featured article per quarter you're going to want a few eyes before this gets submitted to FA. Please forgive me if I jump the gun, but there are a few comments I'd like to make/suggest. Feel free to disregard or claim you knew that and were going to get to it!

• There are a couple of instances where trends common to a number of species/groups are presented as occuring in one species. The most glaring example is Buff-breasted Paradise-kingfishers dig their nests into the compacted mud of active termite mounds, either on the ground or in trees. This makes it sound like the behaviour is unique to this one species, in fact many jacamars as well as some parrots and woodpeckers use this technique as well. Some of these should be changed to reflect that the species cited are examples, thus Some species, such as the Buff-breasted Paradise-kingfisher and many of the jacamars, dig their nests into the compacted mud of active termite mounds, either on the ground or in trees.
• Nest types - more species than you suggest use crevices without any other form of nesting material, particularly crevice nesting storm-petrels (like the Ashy Storm-petrel and auks (like the Pigeon Guillemot). Basically, it needs to be reworded a bit to again reflect that these examples are illustrative, not exhaustive. Also worth mentioning is the bizarre nestless egg moving Waved Albatross. I can send you an article on it if you like. Sabine's Sunbird talk 03:05, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Island nest or mound?

Semantic quibble, but does anyone know what category the pebble island of a Horned Coot belongs to - mound, platform, island ? Shyamal (talk) 04:37, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Hmm. Perhaps a mound? Sounds like an altogether unique structure, really! MeegsC | Talk 16:20, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

File:Turdus merula Nesting.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Turdus merula Nesting.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on May 25, 2011. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2011-05-25. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :) Thanks! howcheng {chat} 22:09, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

Picture of the day

A female Common Blackbird (Turdus merula) in her nest. Cup nests like the one shown here, usually made of pliable materials like grasses, are commonly built by passerines. Other types of nests include 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, or a mud dome with an entrance tunnel.Photo: JJ Harrison

Red-browed pardalote builds what kind of nest?

This article says the red-browed pardalote builds an elaborate hanging nest, but the stub it links to for that bird says the bird builds its nest underground. I'm not an expert, so I can't resolve this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Boegiboe (talk • contribs) 20:04, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Wow, you're right! The info here is definitely wrong. According to Birds of Australia by Graham Pizzey and Frank Knight, the Red-browed Pardalote builds a globular or cup-shaped nest in a tunnel underground. I've corrected the lead of this article. Thanks for catching it! MeegsC | Talk 03:02, 29 May 2011 (UTC)

Genetic memory

Has any research been done that connects the concepts of nest building to genetic memory? The building of elaborate nests without instruction seems like a perfect example to me and worthy of a mention in this article. I wouldn't want to be guilty of original research however.--Gibson Flying V (talk) 03:01, 13 May 2014 (UTC)

A history section

This article appears to lack a history section. Or are there no published sources outlining a history of bird's nests?♫ SqueakBox talk contribs 21:04, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

@SqueakBox:, I'm not sure what you're asking for—a history of nest collection? The evolution of nest building? Or something else? MeegsC (talk) 02:24, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

The evolution of nest building. They cant just have come out of nowhere and presumably have played and play an important role in bird reproduction, and anything to do with reproduction normally seems to be important in biology terms so I just find it strange there is no mention of this topic either here or at the article on birds♫ SqueakBox talk contribs 02:58, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

I'll add it to the "To do" list. We should be able to find something. MeegsC (talk) 11:31, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

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Science

What is a load of a Burness what is the purpose of a bird nest 70.31.52.134 (talk) 21:13, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

Bird nest or bird's nest?

Why is this article called Bird nest rather than Bird's nest? It seems to me that bird's nest is the more common expression. The Oxford English Dictionary has an entry for bird's nest, but not for bird nest (in the relevant sense). The Corpus of Contemporary American English has 321 occurrences of bird's nest as against 18 for bird nest. Can I propose to rename the article Bird's nest? HFS-er (talk) 14:52, 7 February 2023 (UTC)

For the same reason we call it a "wasp nest" and not a "wasp's nest", I guess! ;) MeegsC (talk) 02:27, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

This parallel is not really convincing. Wasp in wasp nest is generic and cannot refer to a single wasp. At the same time, my claim is that bird's nest is the most commonly used expression, not that there is a logical reason that it should be better. HFS-er (talk) 13:44, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

On google scholar there are 27,900 results for "bird nest" [1] and 18,200 for "bird's nest" [2]. Utimately pedantry like this is a colossal waste of everyones time, including yours, so I'd advise you to drop it. Hemiauchenia (talk) 23:23, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

My proposal is not a matter of pedantry. I am not trying to find fault with anybody, only to improve the Wikipedia. Google counts are notoriously unreliable. Data from a carefully compiled corpus like COCA are much to be preferred. HFS-er (talk) 22:19, 11 February 2023 (UTC)

Well, not to be a pain in the backside, but in the UK (where I live) "bird nest" is far more common than "bird's nest". So, since I began and wrote the vast majority of this article, does that have any relevance? I should think it might! MeegsC (talk) 22:39, 13 February 2023 (UTC)

That is interesting. My English intuitions are also based on living in the UK. Do you have any evidence for your impression? I am not sure there is a difference between British and American English. The British National Corpus, which is much smaller than COCA, has 11 occurrences of bird's nest as against 1 for bird nest. HFS-er (talk) 22:35, 18 February 2023 (UTC)