Animal Homes: The Nest

The opening scene of "Animal Homes: The Nest" features host Chris Morgan walking among a huge variety of bird nests in a darkened warehouse. Producer Ann Johnson Frum explains what went into filming this dramatic scene and gives us a glimpse of the nests' permanent home at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

The saltmarsh sparrow nests in coastal marshes that tend to get flooded once a month during high tides. Eggs either float away or chicks drown in the rising water. Only chicks that are strong enough to climb can avoid certain death.

Bird nests come in all shapes and sizes, crafted from an inexhaustible diversity of materials, including fur, grasses, leaves, mosses, sticks and twigs, bones, wool, mud and spider silk. Quite a few also contain man-made materials – colorful twine, bits of wire, even plastic bags. Each one is a remarkable work of art, built with just a beak!

A female Anna's hummingbird builds a nest constructed of plant fibers and spiderwebs. Just the right size for her tiny eggs