How to Use nestling in a Sentence

nestling

noun
  • Among birds, whip-poor-will nestlings hatch from their eggs during the new moon.
    — National Geographic, 6 July 2017
  • This is a dangerous time for the nestlings.
    — Monica Deeks, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Aug. 2025
  • This creates an elastic cup that expands as the tiny nestlings grow.
    — Ernie Cowan, sandiegouniontribune.com, 14 Sep. 2017
  • Bags also pack a clear vitrine, nestling one of the many ear sculptures.
    — Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 22 Dec. 2023
  • But this occurs only when birds are nestlings and still maturing.
    — Marlene Cimons, Washington Post, 21 Apr. 2018
  • At more than 250 of these, nestlings were attacked and killed, and eggs were destroyed.
    — Byvirginia Morell, science.org, 6 May 2024
  • If birds have already started to nest on your property, wait a few weeks for the nestlings to fledge.
    — Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 Feb. 2025
  • If a baby bird is a nestling (three to 10 days old) on the ground, it should be put back into its nest.
    — Denise Coffey, Courant Community, 17 June 2018
  • Would all of the activity cause the parent birds to abandon the nestlings?
    — Ernie Cowan, sandiegouniontribune.com, 18 May 2017
  • Biologists used rock climbing gear to ascend the cliffs and reach the two nestlings.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Aug. 2023
  • Already larger than the host chicks, the cowbird then out-competes them for food the host adults bring to the nestlings.
    — Taylor Piephoff, charlotteobserver, 30 June 2017
  • The entire operation is brief and the nestling is returned home.
    — Amy Joi O'Donoghue, USA TODAY, 2 Aug. 2021
  • Shattuck discovered fishing line tangled around one nestling’s leg and freed the bird.
    — Washington Post, 29 July 2019
  • Songbirds also get rid of uneaten food, dead nestlings, and eggshells in their nests, Guigueno says.
    — Barry Mansell, National Geographic, 8 Apr. 2016
  • Furthermore, the birds have been recorded preying on earthworms, small lizards, nestlings and eggs.
    — Jason Bittel, Smithsonian, 4 Jan. 2017
  • But a few days later, a biologist was able to confirm that the nestling was healthy and active.
    — Jesse Klein, Wired, 11 Dec. 2020
  • The last eaglet of the nestlings emerged from its shell and could be seen early Saturday morning.
    — Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 8 Mar. 2025
  • Shop corner cabinets, nestling tables, and more.
    — Mariana Best, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Jan. 2026
  • In the nests that the team monitored, parrotlets killed or wounded nestlings and eggs at 256 sites.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 8 May 2024
  • But when their parents are away, the nestlings take turns napping, preening each other and talking to themselves.
    — Karen Hopkin, Scientific American, 12 May 2023
  • The unsuspecting vireo will then raise the cowbird chicks, which grow faster than its own and outcompete the vireo nestlings for food.
    — Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Feb. 2024
  • The first of the eggs hatched on Tuesday, and as of this morning, all four nestlings could be seen with their mouths agape, looking to be fed.
    — Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 21 May 2020
  • One upshot of that was an increase in the number of complete nest failures in which every single nestling in a nest died.
    — Lee Alan Dugatkin, Scientific American, 14 May 2024
  • That gave the bird an extra week to fledge; a wildlife biologist estimated the nestling would need two to three weeks to fledge.
    — Erin Stone, azcentral, 3 Apr. 2020
  • Sunflowers attract over 70 caterpillar species, which birds feed to their nestlings.
    — Anne Readel, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Feb. 2026
  • Look for a Nest If the bird is a nestling, our experts recommend gently placing it back in its nest.
    — Madeline Buiano, Martha Stewart, 10 June 2026
  • Some nestlings hatch but remain buried in the nest, protected from winter’s worst weather, until spring warms the soil nearby.
    — Dave Taft, New York Times, 8 July 2016
  • Birch bark shelters many insects, and their leaves feed hundreds of caterpillar species, both of which birds rely on to feed hungry nestlings.
    — Anne Readel, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Aug. 2024
  • Birch bark shelters many insects, and their leaves feed hundreds of caterpillar species, both of which birds rely on to feed hungry nestlings.
    — Anne Readel, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Feb. 2026
  • The number of bald eagle nests being used for eggs and nestlings fell to at most seven in the early 1970s.
    — USA TODAY, 24 Dec. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nestling.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: