Want to reuse some stuff around your house and provide some nesting materials for birds?
Hester from Fun In the Making sent me this recycled craft project. It’s a bird nester — “like a bird feeder, but contains nesting materials.” You can get the instructions and materials list to make this DIY recycled creation at Hester’s how-to post.
You may be wondering what the experts recommend for bird nesting materials. Ah, I thought so! Some of the suggested materials below surprised me a bit. I didn’t realize that birds used human hair to build nests.
Suitable nesting materials for birds from Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
Dead twigs, dead leaves, dry grass, yarn or string—cut into 4- to 8-inch pieces, human or animal hair (especially horse hair), fur (e.g. dog or cat fur), sheep’s wool, feathers, plant fluff or down (e.g. cattail fluff, cottonwood down), kapok, cotton batting or other stuffing material, moss, bark strips, pine needles, thin strips of cloth (about 1 inch wide by 6 inches long) and shredded paper
Have you tried attracting birds to your yard by providing nesting materials?
(Image via Fun in the Making. Used with permission.)
Really good idea! Thank you! I have just been throwing fuzzy things from the balcony, and neighbors aren’t too happy about that :-D
(I live in a highrise in suburbs…)
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Mary, that’s so sweet — horse hair nests! And very kind of you to lay the hair out for the birds.
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We have horses and sometimes find tiny little nests entirely woven of horse hair. Now, after grooming I always put the hair outside for the birds.
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“Have you tried attracting birds to your yard by providing nesting materials?”
No, I haven’t but our four dogs sure have! That’s why I already knew that birds looove dog fur for making nests. LOL!
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My husband’s aunt saves dryer lint for spring nests. She sets it out in the yard and watches the birds carry it off. It’s like I Spy spotting brightly colored fluff all around the neighborhood.
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