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zioviche

Crazy nest with pictures! What type of bird/animal built this?

viche
14 years ago

First time posting in the bird forum! Need help ID'ing a nest. I live in Howard County Maryland.

Over the summer I noticed a medium to medium/large sized (maybe crow sized, but my memory is not clear) dark colored bird flying into the dense foliage of our 30 foot tall Little Leaf Linden. I spotted a large nest in the upper branches which looked like it was mainly made of large twigs. The nest is probably almost a foot tall at it's heighest point. It's still there now. I'm not sure if the leaves are original:

{{!gwi}}

Recently I looked up and noticed that a bunch of branches on the tree were actually stipped bare. All of the branches were smaller in diameter, but some were over 8 feet long:

{{!gwi}}

Branch on ground:

{{!gwi}}

Then I looked up and noticed that the nest had gained a huge addition to it's bottom. The addition was made out of light brown material that looked very much like the stripped bark and maybe some long ornamental grasses. The addition probably added another foot, so now this thing was close to 2 feet tall.

I decided to keep an eye on it and figure out what type of animal had moved in and was stripping the bark off my tree. Yesterday I looked up to see a squirrel pop it's head out of the top and then climb down into the addition. He then left the nest and a few minutes later the addition fell to the ground. It's a little crushed now:

{{!gwi}}

So what kind of bird originally built the twig nest and then who added the addition in the middle of winter? Do squirrels build nests? Could one take over a nest for the winter? Was the squirrel just curious?

Also, will this animal continue to strp the bark off the tree and should I try to remove the remainder of the nest so that it doesn't come back?

Thanks. This is a mystery to me.

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