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The penduline-tits (Remizidae) are a small family of 11 species in three genera allied to the true tits (Paridae). Most species construct intricately woven nests that are suspended from branches, which explains their common name.

- PETER RYAN

The one exception is the Verdin of northern Mexico and the adjacent USA, the sole New World member of the family. It builds a large, spherical nest around a branch and protects it by weaving as many as 2000 spiny twigs into the wall with the pointed ends protruding like the spines of a hedgehog.

The African penduline-tits build one of the iconic nests of the bird world. Their pear-shaped nests have an entrance tube near the top of the nest that automatically closes when not in use. Beneath the entrance is a small lip where returning birds perch while they reach up to open the tube with one foot. An indentation in the nest wall between this lip and the entrance tube forms a ‘false entrance’ to the nest and doubtless has frustrated countless snakes over many millennia.