SPECIES |
NEST HEIGHT ABOVE GROUND Mean (range) (in ft) |
NEST SITES |
Mallard |
0 |
usually near water, also on hollow logs, abandoned nests, base of tree |
Killdeer |
0 |
slight depression on ground, in the open |
White-eyed Vireo |
3 (1-6) |
bushes or young trees |
Carolina Wren |
5 (0-30) |
undergrowth near water, fallen treetops, brushy hedges; also nest boxes, old hornet nests, mailboxes, hats, even pockets of clothing left outside |
Veery |
2 (0-11) |
a tangle of vines, roots, or fallen branches |
Wood Thrush |
5-8 (3-42) |
usually in a sapling or shrub, or in fork or horzontal limb |
Northern Mockingbird |
3.3-6.6 (5"-49') |
low in evergreens early, then higher in deciduous trees by summer |
Brown Thrasher |
4 (0-25) |
dense shrubbery, berry thickets, hedgerows, & undergrowth along forest edges |
Common Yellowthroat |
0.6 (0-3) |
shrubby thickets, marshes, brushy hillsides, wet meadows, hedgerows, overgrown fields; prefers wet areas |
Ovenbird |
0 (0-5") |
well-drained, flat terrain with deciduous understory in forest of tall evergreen or deciduous trees |
Kentucky Warbler |
0 (0-1') |
under ferns, in a dense tangle, or at the base of a tree or shrub |
Eastern Towhee |
1 (0-9) |
dense brushy cover, a small depression on the ground, overhung by vegetation |
Field Sparrow |
1.3 (0-10) |
weedy fields with scattered shrubs or small trees, in weedy (unmowed) orchards, or along bushy borders of farm fields |
Song Sparrow |
2.8 (0-10) |
bushy & edge habitats, edges of woodlands & marshes, hedgerows, residential areas; shrubby stream-bordered fields |
Data on nest heights & sites compiled by Michael Wilpers from Chandler Robbins & Eirik Blom,,
Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Maryland and the District of Columbia, Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1996.
(Some information also from Ehrich, Dobkin, & Wheye,
The Birder's Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds, Simon & Schuster, 1988).
List of breeding birds of Sligo taken from presentation to FOSC by Gail Mackerinan.