Re[2]: Bird nests

["Cunningham, Betty" <bcunning@nssi.com>]

 > Nesting in trees is not a basal bird adaptation.  Many groups of birds
 > (ratites, megapodes, sea birds, anseriformes, etc.) nest on the ground, and 
 > most of these nests are no more "out of the way" than are those of crocs', 
 > lepidosaurs', or turtles'.
     
>Also, I didn't mean just, or even primarily, trees.  Islands are
>as isolated, so are cliffs. Redwing blackbirds nest in dense stands 
>of rushes or cattails, always well out from shore, and *over* water 
>(no land underneath at all).
     
shall we mention penguins, auks, puffins, and other artic and antartic nesting 
birds?  Some of which are flightless as well as out-of-the-way?

-Betty