Contest highlights oddball bird-nest locations
Whether you find a robin's nest on a statue or a hummingbird's nest on wind chimes, your picture of a bird nest in a funky place can win big in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Funky Nests in Funky Places contest. With nesting season underway, this contest challenges everyone to get outside and watch nature in even the most unexpected places.
"Just start looking," says Karen Purcell, who created the contest several years ago as part of the Cornell Lab's Celebrate Urban Birds citizen-science project. "Past experience has shown us you can find bird nests in the most surprising places. We’ve seen them in helmets, old boots, stoplights, store signs, car tires, clotheslines, mailboxes, potted plants, and even a stuffed moose head!"
The Funky Nests contest begins May 1 and lasts until June 15. Entries may be photos, videos, artwork, poems, or stories. You don’t have to be a bird expert or an expert photographer. People of all ages are welcome to participate as individuals or with a class, community center, or after school program. Prizes include binoculars, bird feeders, cameras, an iPad, and more.
Entry deadline is June 15.
Find more information about how to find nests, approach nests without disturbing the birds, and enter the contest at www.FunkyNests.org.
Celebrate Urban Birds is a free, year-round project that focuses on the arts, creating green spaces for birds, and learning how birds use urban spaces.
Check out this video trailer for the Funky Nests contest!
A Few Funky Facts About Nests
- Most common backyard birds lay two to eight eggs. Hatching usually begins about two weeks after the last egg is laid and it takes another two weeks before the young are ready to leave the nest.
- Even if a nest has been built in a somewhat inconvenient place (for you), be patient! In a few weeks the birds will be gone. Meanwhile, you get a front-row seat to a wonder of nature.
- Baby birds have brightly colored beaks that help parents hit the bull’s-eye with food!
- For their first three days of life, nestling pigeons depend solely on “pigeon milk," a liquid loaded with protein and fat that is produced by both the mother and father!
What should I do if I find a baby bird?
This is one of the most common springtime questions we receive
at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Get the answer here.
Contact: Pat Leonard, (607) 254-2137, pel27@cornell.edu
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