An eyrie (also spelled aerie) is the nest of a large bird of prey, built high up on a cliff, mountaintop, or tall tree. Eagles, hawks, and falcons build eyries in places that are hard for predators to reach. These nests can be enormous: a bald eagle's eyrie might be six feet wide and weigh hundreds of pounds after years of adding sticks and branches.

You might read about an eagle's eyrie clinging to a cliff face above a canyon, or a falcon's eyrie tucked into the craggy rocks of a mountain peak.

People sometimes use the word to describe human dwellings in high, remote places. A castle built on a mountaintop might be called an eyrie, or someone might describe a penthouse apartment at the top of a skyscraper as an eyrie, suggesting it shares that sense of height, isolation, and commanding views. The word carries a feeling of security and power: just as an eagle surveys its territory from its eyrie, anyone in such a high place can see everything spread out below.