EP34: Okay, but what's the deal with nests?
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Release Date: Aug 6, 2026 | Premiers 7AM ESTNot all birds build one, but for the ones that do, a nest has a single job and a shockingly wide range of ways to get it done. Dr. Vanya Rohwer, Curator of Birds and Mammals at the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, joins Scott to walk the far end of that spectrum, from nests made entirely of spit to a colony structure heavy enough to snap the tree it sits in.
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In this episode:
The complete and comical inventory of one hamerkop nest, read aloud, contents included
What a bird does when you hand it a nest somebody else already built
Why a shed snakeskin in a tree cavity is a calculated decoration
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All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But... Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Bird media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows:
American Robin audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML206448
Baltimore Oriole audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML219606
Black-legged Kittiwake audio contributed by Roger Charters, ML202491
White-nest Swiftlet audio contributed by Arnoud B. van den Berg, ML36421
Cliff Swallow audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML92053871
Chimney Swift audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML107413
Hamerkop audio contributed by Anonymous, ML97562
Eastern Whip-poor-will audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML195774
Montezuma Oropendola audio contributed by David L. Ross Jr., ML215446
Western Grebe audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML195029
Rufous Hornero audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML132447
Northern Yellow Warbler audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML516692
Sociable Weaver audio contributed by Jacob Henry, ML637193738
Great Crested Flycatcher audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94314
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML534430
White-breasted Nuthatch audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML306062