What is the Name of the Bird's Home?

Aren't birds cool, particularly in terms of their places of residence? If you ever were interested in the various places a bird might call home and what those are collectively called, then you are in for a nice surprise. Whether it is that curious kid or that curious parent out to teach your child about nature, this blog will take you across the world of bird's homes.

The Different Types of Bird Homes

Birds can live in all sorts of places, and depending on the place where they live and how they do it, there is a name for their home. Let's take a closer look at the most commonly found Bird Home Names:.

Examples of common types of bird nests are all classified under nests. Birds construct nests to provide a home for their eggs and young ones. The material used in making nests may be very diversified, made of twigs, leaves, grass, feathers, and even mud. They come in all sizes and shapes, depending upon the kind of bird.

Cup-shaped Nests: These are the standard nests of birds and look like a small bowl or cup. Robin's nests belong to this type of bird nest built on trees or ledges. 

Platform nests: These nests are flat, some are found in big trees, and others are on cliffs. Eagles and a few other big birds build these solid homes.

Cavity Nests: Some avian groups use cavities in trees or on the soil as their preference for nests. Woodpeckers are known to make holes on trees to design their nesting sites.

Burrows: Even though most birds nest in trees, some birds dig burrows underground. These forms of shelters are burrows. Birds like puffins and kingfishers dig out burrows in the ground or on the banks of rivers to find a safe nesting place for their eggs.

Roosts: Basically, these are sites used for resting or sleeping by a bird. The sites are either up a tree, in a cave, within buildings, and many other places. The sites chosen would be those that can hide them from the predators and be tolerant of the changes in weather.

Colonies: Many birds are quite social in their behavior. The habitat or shelter of most of the birds may form a part of the large colony, as seen in the case of the penguins. They live in cold places like Antarctica in colonies and always stay together, lining up in a row for warmth and protection.

Aerie: An aerie is an eagle's nest or another kind of bird home, especially those of birds of prey. Such homes are gigantic in size and are mostly constructed hundreds of feet above the ground on the tallest trees and the cliff tops. The design of the nest works as a guard to its eggs and chicks from any predators. 

Also Read: Animals and their homes

Why Do Birds Build Homes?

Just like human beings require a place to live, eat, and sleep, birds also require a place to conduct their living, eating, sleeping, and raising their young ones. Birds, unlike human beings, cannot walk into home hardware to buy building material for some accommodation. Each bird here uses whatever they get. Now this is the purpose for which there are bird homes.

Safety: A home is the safest thing for a bird as it gives protection from outside foes, which include animals such as snakes, cats, and others.

Shelter: A bird needs shelter from adversity, which means in a form of rain, wind, and extreme temperatures. Their homes serve as stopovers from the harsh environments to enable them to get dry and warm.

Rearing Young: Nests are made up to lay eggs and to rear the small birds. The nest is well-guarded and provides warmth to the laid eggs until they hatch and is the home of the chicks until the day comes when they will become big enough to take wing and fly.

Discover Bird Houses: A Fun Kids' Activity And Parent

If you are a parent or teacher, then teaching about homes can become a really fun and meaningful thing to do with your child. Here is an activity that you both can do together:

Bird Home Scavenger Hunt

What You Need:

A notebook and pencil

Binoculars (optional)

Camera or smartphone to take pictures (optional)

How to Play:

Experience it: Walk out in your neighborhood or local park. Look carefully for bird living environments. Perhaps you will notice bird's nests up in the trees, at the house's eave, or even on the ground.

Have Your Child Drawing or Writing About: Each of the bird homes they see in the picture. If you use a camera take pictures and have them made up and have a birdhouse scrapbook made.

Identify the Birds: Students may use a bird booklet, or a bird identification application, for the identification of the birds that you observe, and to learn more about their homes. You'll find this is a great way to help associate which bird has what type of home.

Discuss: Discuss why different birds might use different habitats. Ask children, "I wonder how come this bird decided to nest here?" or "What is the bird using to construct its nest?” or “What is this bird’s home name?”

Build Your Own Bird Home

You and your child might like to build your own bird house after this project. Installation of a birdhouse is an outdoor craft project. Amaze all the various types of birds you have in your yard or garden with a safe place to live all year long.

Materials You'll Need:

Either a birdhouse kit that is available from a craft store or online

Paint and brushes

Nails and a hammer

A tree or post to hang the birdhouse

How to Build:

Assemble the birdhouse as per the instructions with your kit. This is a fun activity and can help explain to children how the house of a bird is shaped. For kids really into bright wild colors, paint the birdhouse in splashes of wild colors. Just remember to use only paint that is non-toxic, as it is after all going to be safe for certain wildlife.

Where to Hang Your Birdhouse: Find a birdhouse within your compound or garden. Your birdhouse has to be hanged high out of human and pet reach.

Observation and Patience: You now have your birdhouse hanged. Observe your birdhouse and be alert with what you watch. You might see birds bringing nesting materials into the house.

Now that you know how the birds build their homes, let's have a little more fun. This game for identifying the birds is great for kids who love nature and would want to learn a lot from the birds in their area.

Name That Bird

What You'll Need:

List of pictures or flashcards of different kinds of colorful birds

Timer

Little prize if possible

How to Play:

Lesson Set Up: Obtain pictures of birds or bird flash cards. At a minimum, all of your flash cards should have the picture of the bird on one side and the name on the other side. Good birds to consider include robins, sparrows, and blue jays.

Play a Game: When you show the child an image of a bird, begin the timer. He has a few seconds only to guess the name of the bird. If he is unable to guess the name, you can give him the clues, for instance, giving a description of the color or what type of house it stays in.

Winning Points: Your child can score one point for every correct guess. If you have more than one child, you can take turns guessing.

Prize: After your child has earned a certain number of points, you could give a small prize. It really does not have to be anything big, just perhaps some extra playtime or a small treat.

Challenge Round: For the older kids or those desiring more of a challenge, you could make a challenge round in which they have to answer what type of house the bird would live in.  For example, "What type of house does the woodpecker live in?"  Answer: A cavity nest. “What Type of House Would a Woodpecker Live In?” and so on. This game allows children to practice the identification of various birds and further re-instilled what they have learned regarding the homes of birds

Why Learning About Bird Homes Matters?

The birdhouse-building activity is not about being a fun experience for learners; it is important. Among the multiple reasons that the information about bird houses is crucial to the the Learner includes the following facts;

Relation To Nature: Understand what makes homes for the birds. It allows a child to identify with the natural world and, while somewhat overboard, get them outside and appreciate creatures that share our world. 

Science Skills: From observing bird homes to getting to determine different bird species, it can start a real interest in science. This will trigger the observation skills in the children when trying to come up with a hypothesis through research, and such skills are very important to help any child become a scientist in the near future.  All that creativity and problem-solving in birds—making a birdhouse or playing games such as bird identification games—really brings forth creative skills and problem-solving in children. Games of such essence do challenge thoughts of how the birds live and what that they need for their survival.

Conservation awareness: A child can learn the realization of wildlife protection and their homes by learning bird homes. It can urge them to be more involved in helping protect birds and animals in their localities.

Conclusion 

You will find birds living in really cool houses into small-nest boxes dug into the ground and into burrows. Now, you will explore the Bird’s Homes with your child to uncover fun and discovery. And here are three that you will enjoy as you do all that: the making of a birdhouse, new scavenger hunts, and birds to identify with to enjoy all the excitement and fun of nature. 

So the next time you look at a bird, you may wonder what sort of house it has built and where exactly it could be staying. You may just realize that you're looking at the world with new eyes, much the same way the bird sees the world from its cozy little house.

FAQs

What is the word for bird house?