Whose a clever bird at building nests?

THERE is a noticeable change in the behaviour of the birds in my garden.

Some have given up using the feeders. Others just pay brief and hurried visits. All this is because the nesting season has started, placing heavy demands on the time and energy of garden birds.

Nests are built by some insects, spiders, mammals, even a few fish species, but none approaches the complexity and variety of the nests birds build. The only other species that devotes so much energy and ingenuity to a structure in which to rear its young is Homo sapiens.