Birds are incredible architects. Gathering material from the surrounding landscape using only their beak and feet, they construct compact and sturdy temporary homes in which they raise their young. Each nest reflects a bird’s knowledge and use of its habitat as it finds sticks and twigs, mud and clay, spiderwebs and cattails, lichens and mosses, animal fur, and more, and then binds them together in a unique construction. There are dozens of nest types, each suited to certain species or lifestyles. And perhaps what’s most astonishing is that, during nesting season, these carefully crafted abodes are all around us—but they are so well hidden we hardly notice they are there at all. The list of seemingly miraculous nests could go on forever. Here is a short list of our favorites that represent but a slice of the avian world’s remarkable structures. Cactus Wren (above) To hide from the desert’s oppressive sun, Cactus Wrens build a roof over their babies’ heads...