Photos of the Largest Bird Nests in the World, Built by the Sociable Weaver in Southern Africa

In the vast barren landscapes of the southern Kalahari, Sociable Weaver birds assume ownership of the telephone poles that cut across their habitat. Their burgeoning nests are at once inertly statuesque and teeming with life. The twigs and grass collected to build these nests combine to give strangely recognizable personalities to the otherwise inanimate poles.—Dillon Marsh

The Sociable Weaver is a small brown bird found in the Kalahari region of southern Africa. They are unlike most other birds due to their lifestyle and nest building, constructing permanent nests on trees and other tall objects. The nests are the largest built by any bird, big enough to house over a hundred pairs of birds, often containing several generations at a time. South African photographer Dillon Marsh has always been intrigued by the way humans interact with their environment. Assimilation is his second series that explores this relationship—the idea was sparked by his memory of seeing these huge nests while traveling with his family when he was a kid. The fact that they are situated on telephone poles and that people seem to be actively helping the birds by wrapping wire around the poles made this an especially interesting subject for him.

Feature Shoot Contributing Editor Julia Sabot is the Associate Photo Editor at Dwell.

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