Hundreds of gannets dive for mackerel off the coast of Shetland, Northern Isles of Scotland on July 2020, where they plunge into the water from heights of up to 100ft at speeds of 60mph. (Photo by David Keep/The Times)

A white-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) sits over a tree in a field in Lahore, Pakistan, 26 March 2021. The most familiar Kingfisher species can be observed perched on branches or walls while on the lookout for grubs, insects and even fish in streams or garden ponds. (Photo by Rahat Dar/EPA/EFE)

A great crested grebe feeds a chick sitting on its mother’s back on a lake in Cáceres, Spain. (Photo by Jose Luis Ruiz/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Creative imagery bronze winner. Make-up by Chengbo Sun, China. (Photo by BPOTY/Cover Images)

Cormorant masters and boatmen prepare sea cormorants for the nights “Ukai” on July 2, 2014 in Gifu, Japan. In this traditional fishing art “ukai”, a cormorant master called “usho” manages cormorants to capture ayu or sweetfish. The ushos of River Nagara have been the official staff of the Imperial Household Agency of Japan since 1890. Currently six imperial fishermen of Nagara River conduct special fishing to contribute to the Imperial family eight times a year, on top of daily fishing from mid-May to mid-October. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

This is the hilarious moment a terrified baby hippo ran screaming for its mum when a flock of bird landed on its back in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. The hippo was seen screaming, running and twisting from side to side in a desperate bid to shake off the red and yellow ox-pecker birds. Ox-peckers and hippos usually have a mutually beneficial relationship where the birds help free hippos of ticks and other parasites by feeding on them. (Photo by Marc Mol/Caters News/SIPA Press)

A bird is cleaned at the International Bird Rescue in Fairfield, California January 20, 2015. A gooey, unknown material discovered on the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay is clinging to the feathers of birds, and more than 100 birds, mostly species of oceangoing, diving ducks, have died after their feathers were fouled by the viscous substance now undergoing testing at state labs in Sacramento. (Photo by Robert Galbraith/Reuters)

Sharon Beals is a San Francisco based photographer who has photographed nest and eggs specimens collected over the last two centuries at The California Academy of Sciences, The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and The Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. While few nests are collected today, these nests and eggs are used for research, providing important information about their builder’s habitats, DNA, diseases and other survival issues.