Veery (Catharus fuscescens) nest sites were compared to unused sites in a Middle-Atlantic Piedmont forest to determine if nest placement was random or biased with respect to forest structure and alien vegetation. Thus far, available data shows alien plants have a detrimental or neutral effect on the ecology of forest birds; however, empirical data regarding the proximate influence of invasive alien shrubs on avian nest placement in North American forests is lacking. Nest sites were distributed non-randomly in relation to vegetation density and were characterized by dense foliage below 1.5 m with sparse overstory at 2.5 to 3 m. Sites occurred within moist forest in floodplains and on south- and east-facing slopes. All nest sites contained alien shrubs, and alien vegetation supported 84% of nests. Shrub diversity did not differ between nest sites and unused sites yet more alien shrub species were found at nest sites. The density of native shrub-layer foliage did not differ between the two treatments; however, the density of alien shrub foliage was greater at nest sites. In this forest there was no relationship between the density of alien vegetation and the density of native vegetation. These data suggest that alien shrubs have replaced native shrub species and exerted a largely additive effect on foliage density providing the proximate cues for nest placement. The high success rate (70%) of nests within sites used in analyses suggests that the alien shrubs providing these cues are not substantially elevating nest failure rates. Thus, some temperate-breeding Neotropical forest-interior birds may react positively to a change in forest structure resulting from the invasion of alien shrubs. Ecological release resulting from the increase in available nest sites created by alien shrubs may explain the recent regional spread of the Veery. Region-specific studies are needed to determine the forest breeding birds that are affected, either positively or negatively, by the altered spatial heterogeneity created by alien shrubs.