A very good friend found this nest in a hedge row at his home and he is curious what type of bird did it belong to?

He lives in Godfrey IL, which is near St. Louis MO, if that helps. He added the nest is about the size of a small tennis ball.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: h2oys,

Oriole?

The Cornell Ornithology app on the phone might help. Merlin is its name, I think. You can take pictures and it thinks about them for you.

I am going to guess this:

Red-eyed vireo, Vireo olivaceus : Red-eyed vireos build their nests at any height, but always in a deciduous tree. Their nests can be found in both forest and edge habitat. The nest is always a hanging cup suspended along its edges from a thin, horizontal, forked branch. It is a neat, tidy, compact structure that will have bits of birch bark, and usually also wasp paper, decorating the outside. The inside cup diameter of a vireo nest is 2 inches.

https://northernwoodlands.org/...-bird-made-that-nest

The “where the hell did my nest go.” bird?

Be careful bringing old birds nests into the house. Back when I was in middle school (small international school in Prague, Czech Republic. About 40 kids...we met in a house) we found an old abandoned bird's nest while playing in the woods during lunch break. We brought it back to show our science teacher, and set it on the window sill above the radiator. About halfway through Czech class (last class of the day), somebody noticed a tiny spider skittering across the table. Next thing you know, they start appearing everywhere. Then somebody looked over at the nest and there were literally thousands of spiders swarming out of it...dropping down from the window sill on tiny strands of silk like soldiers fast-roping out of a Blackhawk...and swarming all over the floor!

Apparently the spiders had decided that an abandoned bird's nest would be a good place to lay their eggs, and when we brought it inside and warmed it up they all started to hatch. It was like something out of a horror movie...but we did get out of school early that day!

Thread drift….

Reminds me I need to order a new Martin house after the last condos got blown away during Ida

Thanks for the thread. I’d forgotten

Bird mites. You don't want to touch nests. You will go crazy with the itching, and you won't see them.