Identify aboveground nests in eastern North America with this pocket-size guide. Whether you’re hiking with your family, on a camping trip, or visiting a park, you’re sure to notice a variety of bird nests. If you’re curious about these nests—and which feathered friends built them—then Bird Nest Finder by Dorcas S. Miller is just what you need. With the handy, easy-to-use format, you can identify commonly seen bird nests—from bluebirds and cardinals to hummingbirds and orioles—in the eastern half of North America. The booklet provides a dichotomous key to identifying aboveground bird nests. Simply answer a series of simple questions about the type, size, and location of the nest, as well as the materials from which it’s made. Along the way, professional illustrations help to guide you to a positive identification. This guide is applicable to eastern Canada and the US states of Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and parts of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Book Features: Step-by-step guide to identifying aboveground nests - More than 70 species of birds and their nests - Professional line illustrations with key markings for identification - Small format that fits into a pocket or pack Dorcas S. Miller , founding president of the Maine Master Naturalist Program, has written more than a dozen books, including Berry Finder , Constellation Finder , Scat Finder , Track Finder , and Winter Weed Finder . Her Finder books have sold more than half a million copies. Start Here Nests can be tiny to huge, ephemeral to long-lasting, a clutch of twigs or an elaborate, beautifully crafted home. With patience and time, you can learn about the secret lives of birds, who source local materials and use only their bill and toes to build. Here’s how to begin: Review the next seven pages so you know the basic terms and materials. - Go to the Entry Key on p. 9. Which option best describes your nest? - Proceed to the section key, review the possibilities, and make your choice. There are always puzzles. You may be able to identify to group but not genus, genus but not species. Maybe the nest does not fit any category—so perplexing! Remember that important features may be missing because the nest was abandoned in progress, it’s an unfinished “decoy” (p. 8), or other birds or mammals have raided the nest for building materials. This pocket size guide features common (and a few uncommon but charismatic) birds, but there are many more species in the book’s range. When to explore? Only approach if the adult or adults have abandoned the nest, or after the chicks have fledged and departed. Then you may look at and touch empty nests, but you may not take them. Bird nests are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1916), and federal law prohibits their possession without a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Tips for Finding Nests Nest finding is a learned skill; the more you practice, the better you become. Instead of looking for a nest, scan broadly—including treetops—letting your eyes rest on anything that seems different. Autumn, just after leaf drop, is the prime time because nests lose their camouflage and are much more visible. Also, weather degrades nests, so important features may be lost. Start with productive areas such as thickets, borders of roads, and easily accessible stream and pond edges. In winter, check for snow cones—nests with a distinctive dollop on top. Eyes are better than binoculars when scanning, but binoculars are helpful for details. Beware of decoys: A fist-size growth of lichen perched on a limb (left) may look like a nest, and a mass dangling from a branch may be an old tent caterpillar cocoon (flattish, disheveled); a Northern Parula nest (in a clump of lichen); or a three-dimensional, carefully constructed bird nest An accumulation of sticks high in a tree may be the nest of a hawk, eagle, heron, osprey—or, with the addition of exterior leaves, the nest of a squirrel.