Baldfaced Hornet Nest (Dolichovespula maculata)

November 27, 2018 Elise

Normally I stay as far away from large hornets’ nests as I can. But this large weather-worn nest that I encountered on Saturday was uninhabited, which allowed me to examine it more closely than I could have during the summer when it would’ve been occupied by as many as 300 stinging residents. Overall, this nest was roughly basketball sized, and consisted of layers of paper-mache textured sheets surrounding an inner network of hexagonal cells. Although the nest appears grey at…

Northern Cardinal Nest

May 16, 2018 Elise

Northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are a common backyard feeder bird. But while the male’s bright red feathers make this a hard species to overlook, this is the first northern cardinal nest I’ve ever seen. This is likely due to the fact that although they tend to build their nests low to the ground (1 to 15 feet high), northern cardinal nests are generally wedged into a fork of small branches in a thick shrub or tangle of vines, where it…

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

June 28, 2017 Elise

While adult American Robins (Turdus migratorius) may be a common sight, their nests are often tucked away in thickets and hard to access areas. Today, however, while performing a wetland delineation for work, I stumbled across this nest. The female robin chooses the nest site and is primarily responsible for building the nest itself, although males will help to collect nest materials. Nests are typically situated on one or more horizontal branches hidden in or just below a layer of…

Seashore to Forest Floor

A naturalist's journey across Cape Cod and beyond

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