03/17/2026
Found a nest in your yard and don't know whose it is? Location plus material plus egg color tells you the species.
🐦 In a dense hedge or shrub, two to eight feet up:
- Twigs and grass cup, eggs pale greenish with brown speckles — cardinal
- Twigs and grass cup, eggs pale blue with brown spots — mockingbird
- Grass and bark cup, eggs blue-green with brown spots — catbird
🐦 In a tree fork, five to fifteen feet up:
- Mud and grass cup with fine grass lining, eggs bright blue with no spots — robin
- Bulky twig platform visible from below, two white eggs — mourning dove
🐦 Hanging from a branch tip, fifteen to thirty feet up:
- Woven pouch of plant fibers, string, and bark, eggs pale gray with dark streaks — Baltimore oriole
🐦 In a nest box or cavity:
- Fine grass cup, four to five pale blue eggs — eastern bluebird
- Moss, fur, and plant fiber, six to eight white eggs with reddish dots — chickadee
- Feathers and grass, four to five white eggs — tree swallow
🐦 On a human structure — grill, mailbox, wreath, light fixture:
- Bulky dome of sticks and leaves with a side entrance — Carolina wren
- Compact grass cup, four to five blue-white eggs with specks — house finch
- Messy cup of grass and debris, four to five greenish-white eggs with brown spots — house sparrow
🐦 On the ground:
- Shallow depression in gravel or dirt, four speckled tan eggs nearly invisible — killdeer
- Fur-lined bowl in lawn covered with a grass plug — eastern cottontail
- Grass cup in tall vegetation, three to five eggs with brown streaks — song sparrow
🐦 On a platform or ledge:
- Mud shelf against a wall under an overhang — eastern phoebe
- Mud half-cup on a beam or rafter — barn swallow
🌿 Quick rules:
- Bright blue eggs with no markings — robin. The most recognizable egg in any eastern yard
- Eggs visible through the nest from below — mourning dove. The flimsiest construction you'll find
- Enclosed dome with a side entrance in a strange location — Carolina wren
- Any nest with mud in the structure — robin, phoebe, or barn swallow
- White eggs in a dark cavity — chickadee, bluebird, or tree swallow
Between now and August, this covers most of what you'll find 🌿
