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Patch burn grazing management (pyricherbivory) has been recommended as a management tool to generate a heterogeneous vegetation mosaic for grassland birds. In shortgrass steppe of the western Great Plains, patch burns provide breeding habitat for the mountain plover (Charadrius montanus), a grassland bird of conservation concern, but consequences for other bird species are unclear. We examined the nesting ecology of 3 passerine species in relation to pyricherbivory in northeastern Colorado. Lark buntings (Calamospiza melanocorys) selected nest microsites with greater cover of midgrasses and shrubs, and nest microsites occurred in patches (200 m radius) with greater vegetation height compared to the overall landscape. Lark bunting abundance was low in recent burns, and most nests (91%; N = 23) occurred in areas not burned in the past year. In contrast, McCown's longspurs (Rhynchophanes mccownii; N = 132) and horned larks (Eremophila alpestris N = 54) selected nest microsites with greater height and cover of midgrass and cactus, and nests were located in patches (200 m radius) with shorter height, less midgrass and less shrub cover than the overall landscape. Both species were equally abundant on versus off current-year burns. To assess effects on reproductive performance, we examined nesting survival across a time-since-burning gradient. The most parsimonious model for nest survival, after accounting for nest age, time in season and species, also included seasonal temperature (? = -0.236 + 0.098), current day precipitation (? = -0.041 + 0.020), dry conditions the prior day(? = -1.201 + 0.797), and the amount of midgrass and shrub cover within 200 m of the nest (? = -0.083 + 0.051), but did not explicitly include time since burning. Thus, weather and vegetation structure influenced nest survival of McCown's longspurs and horned larks, but vegetation conditions that enhanced nest survival occurred both in burned and unburned shortgrass steppe.