Smithsonian Handbook of Interesting Bird Nests and Eggs

Birds are some of nature's most innovative architects, and this spectacular collection of photographs features more than one hundred preserved historical examples of their intricate nests and distinctive eggs. The entries span from the Glittering-bellied Emerald nest collected in 1768 in Rio de Janeiro to the Emperor Penguin egg collected on an infamous 1911 expedition to Antarctica to the Blue Tit nest collected in 2020 in Briston, England. Captions share fascinating biological, physical, and geographical details about each specimens to uncover how they're constructed and to learn about the birds who made them.

The nests reveal astonishing diversity, artistry, and intelligence. The innovation of birds is on full display in more than 100 samples collected from across the world. The detailed entries include:

Full-color photographs
• Nest, clutch, and egg size
• Collection site location
• Bird conservation status
• Specimen collection date, spanning 1768"“2020
• Nest construction and materials, such as lichens, fungi, leaves, seaweed, spider webs, plastic, and more
• Fascinating background on the role of studying nests in conservation efforts

This book reveals how a simple bird's nest or egg can tell extraordinary stories about the birds behind them, help reconstruct a habitat's flora and fauna, and offer potential answers to important evolutionary and ecological questions.