Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Hooded Warbler Nest?

My husband found this nest on his walk down the driveway to get the morning paper the other day:



The measurements are:
  • 1-1/2 to 1-3/4" inside diameter
  • 2-1/2 to 3" outside diameter
  • 1-1/2" height

He found the nest where our driveway goes over a culvert over a cove area. It appeared to have fallen out of a lower branch of a yellow poplar tree. This is the same area and perhaps the same tree I saw a pair of hooded warblers last summer. Maybe they were protecting their nest.

The measurements correspond with those of the Hooded Warbler's nest in the Peterson field guide Eastern Birds' Nests. In addition, the outside of the nest is covered with a white substance that secures the nest. The book states that the nest is "Neat, compact; built of dead leaves. . . , grasses and lined with soft grasses . . . often fastened with spider silk." Sounds pretty close to the description of this nest--the white stuff could be spider silk. Also, the photograph in the book looked very similar.

I also saw a Red-Eyed Vireo in that area but its nest is decorated on the outside with lichens. I did not see any lichens on this nest. Of course, the nest is not fresh and may have had lichens at one time.

So, what do you think? Have you ever seen a Hooded Warbler's nest?

15 comments:

  1. What a wonderful find. I have no idea who used to live there..but I am sure someone will help with the ID.
    When I find nests I store them and give them to one of my sisters. I think they are wonderful works of art.

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  2. Wow what a great find! Like a treasure dropped down on your driveway. Good detective work trying to find out who's nest that is...I wouldn't have a clue! Awesome!
    Chris

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  3. dAwN--I hope someone, with more expertise, can verify my identification. I just have two I have collected now--one chipping sparrow I posted about last year and this one. The other nests fall apart during the winter.

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  4. Chris--yes, I treasure this find and am keeping it on the windowsill with the rest of my nature collection. Thanks for he note.

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  5. Interesting and really hard to say for sure! But sounds like a good guess on its ID!

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  6. Nest are beyond beautiful. Wish we could help you on the ID, but we love the pic!

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  7. Warren and Lisa--thanks for the note. I will be watching that area for hooded warblers in order to see if they build another nest this year.

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  8. I may have seen one of these and just never knew who built it :)

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  9. Not that familiar with the hooded warbler. I did a Google image search for 'hooded warber nest' and it looks like it may just be that.

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  10. Kerri--I may have seen one before too. Now, I will be looking for it this year.

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  11. Alan--thanks for tip to Google hooded warbler nest images. The images do look very similar to what I found.

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  12. June--thanks for the note. I agree the nest is quite beautiful.

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  13. mon@rch--think I found the nest on your blog in 2007!

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