On Apr 1 I was fishing on the Grand River Near Fairport, Ohio.  There were 
several belted kingfishers there.  I noticed one fly into its nest which 
was a hole in the bank.  It got my friend and I thinking about the 
structural specifications of such a nest:

1.  It should be down far enough from the top of the bank to not be 
reachable by predators from above.

2.  It should be high enough above the water that it is above the high 
water mark.  Also it should be high enough that it can't be reached by 
predators from the water.

3.  The entrance needs enough of a slope that any water from rain will not 
run into the nest.

4.   The ground above the nest should not be very permeable to water so if 
it rains it doesn't get soaked.


We concluded that these kingfishers are PhD structural engineers, 
genetically speaking.

Nelson Mostow, Cleveland, Ohio

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