A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term is popular in reference to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American Robin or Eurasian Blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the Montezuma Oropendola, the Village Weaver or the Red-browed Pardalote—that is too restrictive a definition. For some species, a nest is simply a shallow depression made in sand; for others, it is the knot-hole left by a broken branch, a burrow dug into the ground, a chamber drilled into a tree, an enormous rotting pile of vegetation and earth, or a mud dome with an entrance tunnel. Some species of cave swiftlets of the genus Collocalia make their nests entirely from their saliva, which dries and hardens to form a bracket on the cave wall into which the birds lay their eggs. The smallest bird nests are those of some hummingbirds, tiny cups which can be a mere 2 cm (less than one inch) across and 2–3 cm (about one inch) high. At the other extreme, some nest mounds built by the Dusky Scrubfowl measure more than 11 m (34 ft) in diameter and stand nearly 5 m (15 ft) tall.

Nests are built each year in most species but some birds refurbish their old nests. The large eyries (or aeries) of some eagles are platform nests that have been used and refurbished for several years.

In yet another extreme, brood parasites have evolved to manipulate and use host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the brood-parasite, which relieves the parasitic parent from the building of nests and the investment of rearing young.

In most species, the female does all or most of the nest construction, though the male often helps. In some polygynous species, however, the male may do most or all of the nest building. The nest may also form a part of their courtship display such as in bowerbirds and weaver birds. The ability to choose and maintain good nest sites and build high quality nests may be selected for by females in these species. In some species the young from previous broods may also act as helpers for the adults.