Dutch doctoral student Auke-Florian Hiemstra excavated a bird nest, and made a startling discovery. From McDonald's lids to face masks, the nest was built with layers of human trash — the oldest ...

Nest-building isn’t just instinct. Birds can learn from others, letting groups within one species develop their own distinctive nest-building traditions. June 16, 2025. contribute now.

An advertisement for the 1994 World Cup, fast food wrappers, COVID-19 masks—what birds used to build their nests reflects a world with more plastic. A coot bird in London on a nest made of twigs ...

Eurasian coots are round, black waterbirds with distinctive, chicken-like feet. Each year, these birds typically build new, bowl-shaped nests using leaves, rushes and reeds. But, while nesting in ...

His discovery of successive layers of plastic in birds’ nests, from different periods, has now been published in the scientific journal Ecology. “You flip through these nests like through pages of a ...

Nest materials, locations, construction styles and timing have likely evolved to specific bird species’ circumstances, geographies and lifestyles. Wild birds are generalists outside of the ...

Birds can learn from others, letting groups within one species develop their own distinctive nest-building traditions. When birds build nests, they're also building a culture | WUNC ...

Nest-building isn't just instinct. Birds can learn from others, letting groups within one species develop their own distinctive nest-building traditions.

Neighboring groups of birds within the same species can create very different-looking nests — showing that their nest-building choices aren’t solely controlled by instinct and the environment.