A recent review of why some birds use “anthropogenic materials” noted that trash has been found in the nests of 176 different species, on every continent other than Antarctica.

Birds’ nests can come in all shapes and sizes – from the traditional cup nests to those that hang like pendulums from the branches of trees. Building a nest can take hours, days, sometimes even weeks.

This past April, a Good Samaritan in Australia left a gym class and noticed something strange. A pair of birds stood out in ...

Even today, not all birds build nests. Male emperor penguins keep the egg of their partner in a pouch for just over two months. Australian mallee fowl build huge mounds in which to warm their eggs.

Ross Crates, an ecologist at the Australian National University who was not involved in the study, noted that other research had shown that some birds hissed to ward off predators to their nests.

The Tasmanian Land Conservancy, an Australia-based nonprofit organization that raises awareness and funds for conservation efforts, shared a series of photos on Facebook of a bird's nest made of ...