Hey folks,
Many of us would like to help the progress of our nest-building buddies by putting out material for them to use for their nests. There is a little confusion regarding what is good material and what might not be good for our friends. Some people think that they are doing a good thing by putting out their dryer lint for them to line their nests with. Unfortunately, this is not a good idea for a couple of reasons. First of all, if any of you have ever taken the lint out of your washing machine and revisited it later (you know like it didn't quite make it into the trash right away), it is a hard compacted nugget-mess. Yuck-o! Not good nesting material. Because it absorbs so much water, it becomes matted and heavy and thus doesn't allow water to pass through. A nest will eventually get wet, so they need material that allows water to pass through or that will allow space to be between it and the next type of material like grass, etc. Plus, there is concern that additives in laundry detergents (i.e., chemicals) will harm birds, including phosphates and dyes and fragrance. Sooooooo.....on that note, here is a list of approved material as specified by the bird experts, The Cornell Ornithology Lab.
** Dead Twigs or leaves
** Dry grass
** String or thread or yarn in 4-8 inches
** Human or Horse hair
** Animal fur (cat or dog) Good excuse for a brushing!
** Sheep's wool
** Feathers (The mama will use her own downy, too)
** Plant fluff or down
** Moss
** Cotton batting
** Bark Strips
** Pine Needles
** Thin Strips of cloth 1"wx6"l
** Shredded paper
Take an old onion, shallot or other mesh bag like the type lemons and limes come in and fill it and hang it somewhere accessible like a pole, tree or post.
Anjoy nesting season!
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