Bird nesting peaks in late spring, and paying close attention to this seasonal behavior can show us more about the birds we see around us every day.
While nesting behavior varies considerably among different birds, we can observe a typical nesting cycle in the American robin. In their case, both sexes share in building the nest, which is composed of a mixture of mud and grass.
The female bears the full responsibility of incubation – a trait typical of species in which the male is more colorful than the female. Presumably, the drab feathers are less conspicuous to nest predators.
As with wild creatures in general, a species’ annual production of young birds reflects the species’ annual mortality rate. That is, if the population of a species is stable, the number of individuals that die each year must roughly equal the number added by reproduction.
Discover Nature is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation.