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Two nests - both catalogued as being built by field sparrow (Spizella pusilla). The 9cm diameter nest was collected Oklahoma in 1922 whereas the 25cm diameter example was collected in Indiana in 1860. Something is amiss! 🤔

Many nests change colour dramatically over time. Two Chaffinch nests in the collection. The one of the left was collected in Inverness in 2020 whilst the one on the right was collected 139 years before from Kent in May of 1881 #ornithology #museum #nests

Sometimes I marvel at the beauty of nests. This is the small purse-like nest of a Red-chested Flowerpecker from Lombok Island in Indonesia found in May 1896. Little is known of the breeding of the 48 species of flowerpecker - some we know nothing of their breeding #ornithology

My colleagues in NHM conservation and I are constantly trying to improve storage e.g. a nest and eggs of White's thrush collected in Subashiri, Japan in June 1928. Now placed on a Tyvek cushion filled with ethafoam crystals for support within a bespoke, handmade acid-free box.

There are SO many reasons to love the Eurasian Blue Tit but this is my favourite. Their readiness to use nest boxes ensured this nest fits exactly in a museum box. Wonderful. #Museums #birds #wednesdaythought

So…a set of, almost certainly, Coal Tit eggs collected in ‘Hewitt’s Bottom’ in 1891. The question of the day is #whereishewittsbottom - Google is NOT being helpful… #ornithology #thursdaymorning #birds

If anyone finds tits nesting in a wall mounted cigarette bins this year please let us know? We would be interested in any examples like this - Gheluvelt Park blue tit makes nest in cigarette bin | Worcester News worcesternews.co.uk/news/20103945.…

Merlin egg found in a hole in a beech at Allum Green, Hampshire on 17 June 1862 and mentioned in J.E kelsall’s ‘Birds of Hampshire’. Examined as part of a project looking into the collection of Dr T. Beaven Rake. A fascinating series of eggs from the New Forest and environs

So this is a absolute rarity. A spectacled Longbill nest collected December 1894 from the D'Entrecasteaux Islands off New Guinea. It is a type specimen - clearly described in the type description by Ernst Hartert for Meilestes fergussonis in Novitates Zoologicae 3(3). p. 237-238

A rather charming addition to the research collection is a painted Endangered Moseley’s Rockhopper Penguin egg from Tristan da Cunha. Known locally as Pinnamin, the penguins eggs were traditionally harvested but under the 2006 conservation ordinance egg collecting is restricted

One of the earliest known eggs of White-fronted Tern from New Zealand. Collected by David Lyall aboard HMS Acheron c. 1848-1851. Figured in The Catalogue of Birds Eggs in the British Museum Vol. 1 plate 14. I will never tire of looking at illustrations of eggs! #ThursdayThoughts

Black Tern eggs from Crowland Wash, Lincolnshire in 1832. At that time they bred in huge numbers but drainage of the fens in the 1800s led to their dramatic decline as a breeding species - the last breeding in the UK was in 1978 #FridayThoughts #ornithology #birds #biodiversity

Relatively few eggs are green - these eggs of the Black Cuckooshrike collected in Nov 1902 from Kariega, Eastern Cape Province are strikingly lime green…#ornithology #eggs

A Redwing nest donated by Henry Fraser Walter in 1852 and apparently built in England…

The rather complicated saga of sorting the Lobito Desert Cisticola nests collected by the great Hubert Lynes in March 1927. A fascinating but somewhat confused series of specimens gradually being re-catalogued and made more accessible! #ornithology #wednesdaythought

Fascinating talk British Ornithologists’ Club with Dr Richard Sales and Steve Watson discussing their ground breaking book ‘The Peregrine Falcon’ #ornithology #peregrine #Falcons #birds #birdsofprey

📅Mark the date! On 16 Sept, a joint meeting of #OBC and British Ornithologists’ Club will be held at Natural History Museum, London! 4 honourable speakers will be presenting: - Pamela Rasmussen - Sayam Chowdhury - James Eaton - Mike Edgecombe Info: tinyurl.com/mu6aeahd

Fascinated by birds? 🐦 Come to the museum on Saturday 16 September and join our free day of talks with British Ornithologists’ Club and @orientalbirdclub. We'll be discussing the classification and conservation of birds in Asia. Hosted in the Flett Theatre at the museum, 10am-4.30pm. 🐦

Other books on interesting birds’ nests and eggs are available but none are named as such!

If anyone wants a signed copy of my #InterestingBirdNests&Eggs book - you can now order signed copies whilst stocks last! Natural History Museum online shop. #birds #nests #ornithology #museums #naturalhistory #birdphotography #birding nhmshop.co.uk/interesting-bi…