Birds nests can be incredible structures. Take for example the sociable weaver (Philetairus socius), which builds gigantic nests within nests, large enough to house hundreds of breeding pairs, and several generations of birds.
The nests contain many separate chambers, or if you want to anthropomorphize, little bird bedrooms. Studies have shown that the nests have inner and outer rooms, with the center rooms (nearer to the tree or telephone pole) able to retain heat during the night, and the outer chambers used for shade and staying cool during the day. The nests are so well-built that sometimes they can remain occupied for hundreds of years.
Then there are malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata), which build a nesting mound: a heap of decaying leaves topped off with a layer of sand, usually about 0.6 meters (2 feet) tall, with a chamber for the eggs. The male malleefowl then adds or removes soil during the incubation of the egg as a way of regulating the temperature.
There are countless other examples of birds creating incredible structures to live in and raise their young. Then there are other nests, where birds have clearly thought "that'll do, I'm going to clock off early". It's this latter kind that has taken the Internet by storm over the last few days, because they too are, in their own special way, absolutely amazing, and will make you feel so much better about your own attempts at achieving something in life.
Sometimes your nest doesn't have to be elaborate to be effective. Please enjoy some of our favorites from the lazy birds of the world. You won't be surprised to learn that most of them are from pigeons.
Cuckoos, meanwhile, lay their eggs in the nests of other birds for them to incubate and feed when they hatch. They even lay eggs that mimic the color, size, and shape of their host birds, which keeps the unwitting host bird from being suspicious, before the imposter offspring hatches and often pushes the foster bird's actual offspring out of the nest.
So cut pigeons some slack, it's been a rough year.
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