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Large magpie's nest made of anti-bird spikes in Antwerp, Belgium. Credit: Auke-Florian Hiemstra/Naturalis Naturalist Auke-Florian Hiemstra has seen a lot of bird nests, but none were quite like the one he spotted in a photograph from a patient in a Belgian hospital. This nest, high in a sugar maple in the hospital’s courtyard, was massive—and looked like metal. “It just was this very big ball of metallic, nasty bird spikes,” Hiemstra says. On closer inspection, he realized a Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) had built the two-foot-wide nest with materials that included some 1,500 spikes of the type cities often use...

JAMESTOWN, N.D. — Road work on two emergency routes in central North Dakota is being delayed because of possible bird nesting, a county commissioner says. Officials want to raise the roadbed of the former Highway 10 in western Stutsman County because the road has been repeatedly flooded. Its dirt roadbed is now surrounded by water.

Meteorologist Angela Hutti stepped outside of her front door a few weeks ago and was greeted by a small momma duck who seemed to be scoping out the landscape. A few days later, she woke up and there was a nest and an one little egg. 11 eggs later, Indigo, as Angela has named her due to the blue feathers on her face, is almost ready for the eggs to hatch. You can watch the process as the duck patiently sits on her eggs throughout the day. Take a look at our duck cam via UStream!

Spiders are not famous for their caring, sharing nature. Unlike insects such as ants, it is virtually unheard of for arachnids to live in societies that employ tactics and team work. So the discovery in Ecuador of spiders nesting in family-based communities and hunting in packs was a surprise find for Leticia Avilés, an arachnid expert at the University of British Columbia in Canada. According to Avilés, there are over 39,000 identified spider species. While she has seen just over 20 species cooperate, she has never encountered any species quite like Theridion nigroannulatum. The spiders live in nests that house...

Duck Builds Nest at Kmart Fri May 31, 8:12 AM ETBy The Associated Press CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) - A duck in need of a nesting spot improvised a little and made a home in the bedding plants at a Kmart garden center. The mallard duck was first noticed by a customer a couple of weeks ago, said assistant store manager Linda Adams. Named Mama by store employees, the duck likely strolled up from the nearby Cedar River. "It's been kind of fun," Adams said. "It's just been a little novelty thing. The kids seem to enjoy her." Kmart employees...