And then there are birds that don't bother with nest building at all. A cowbird will lay her eggs in the nest of another species, leaving incubation and rearing to the adoptive parents. Killdeer just use a scrape on the ground for their nest. They may line it with gravel, wood chips or other debris, but they rely on the mottled coloring of the eggs to hide them. Killdeer parents often feign a broken wing to draw predators away from their nest.
Turkeys make minimal nests.
A hen scratches out a small depression in leaf litter, often near a fallen log, to lay her eggs. While she is brooding, she sometimes draws leaves over her back. When she gets up, the leaves fall on the eggs and conceal them until her return. Birds that make virtually no nest tend to produce young that are mobile within hours of hatching. The young of some species, such as bobwhite quail, may fly within a week.