Home for our feathered friends is a bit simpler than it is for us. The nests they build are a temporary place to lay and hatch their eggs and raise the newly hatched offspring, not to provide permanent housing. Birds build and maintain these nests for use during the breeding season. Once the young have fledged (left the nest), the nests are abandoned until the next spring or possibly forever. If the nests are reused again, the elements have had time to sanitize the nests, and they may only need minor repairs to make them useable again. Many raptors and other birds will reuse the same nest for many years before abandoning it in favor of a newly constructed nest. Again, keep in mind that other than use during the breeding season, nests are not used. When the kids have left the nest, it is a truly toxic place. They do not have the amenities that we have in our homes. Far better and healthier to roost in trees or bushes at night. Their days are spent gathering or hunting for food.
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Photo 1 (Featured at the top of this page): A Great Horned Owl is taking a morning nap in the sun whilst she sits on her eggs waiting for them to hatch. Photo 2: A Cliff Swallow peering out from her cliffside nest, built from mud pellets, carried up to the cliff side and affixed to the cliff. The nest is built pellet by pellet.
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Photo 3: A Bald Eagle (eaglet) in its nest a week or so before it fledged. The nest was constructed in a saguaro cactus and is about eight feet in diameter.
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Photo 4: A Red-tailed Hawk fledgling leaves its nest high above the ground for the first time. You can see why they leave as soon as possible. By the next spring, it will be usable again.
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Photo 5: An Osprey nest near Ashurst Lake east of Flagstaff, built high above the ground, it has great lake and mountain views. Two fledglings and an adult are present in this photo.
