Dennis, MA
I was very excited to see the bird nerds today because I'd prepped for one of my favorite classes: Nest Buiding! My supplies: cardboard tubes, cut up cardboard box, yarn, cut up old (washed!) socks, string, pipe cleaners, duct tape, scissors, cut up wig hair, small naturally shed oak branches, string, rope, cut up nylong produce bags... and probably some other stuff I can't remember to list here. My cat Krejci decided to provide assistance once he noticed the yarn...
Nest building is engineering. If you ever come across a nest, in the woods, fallen on the ground, on top of a telephone pole, inside a nest box... they come in all shapes, sizes, locations, using different materials. Human waste sometimes shows up in nest in that it's yet another avian adaptation to them having to live with us. I NEVER support your trash going anywhere but to recycling, composting, reusing or to the last resort garbage... though it's amazing to observe what the birds can do with it. I know folks who brush their dogs outside (especially in the spring) so that the birds will hopefully find it useful for nest building.
The bird nerds seemed excited when given the project at hand and I let them choose their own partner/teams. They didn't have too much time to complete their task and given the materials they had to work with... I gotta say... they did a wonderful job! This project is always a HIT! Collaboration and engineering as a team to create a sturdy, soft & safe place for imaginary eggs. Bravo young bird nerds! At least I didn't require you to use your feet and your face as the birds do!
(double click images to enlarge)
Our List:
Song Sparrow
American Crow
Practicing patience and quiet as we snuck up on
a Song Sparrow
Nest building in progress
Braiding some yarn to use as a strong support
Building a sturdy base out of recycled
cardboard and cardboard tubes
Choosing the proper branch for construction
Long shadows in the sunshine as they get to work
Getting a glimpse of an Osprey nest, which can weigh
hundreds of pounds if it's an older nest that's
been built on year after year
Focused energies
Explaining the intricacies of this pouch-like nest
Looks like they're enjoying the teamwork!
Joint effort!
That is one fancy nest!
Testing the nest in the tree
Dr.Seuss would be PROUD!
Bird nerd engineers!
Proud nest builder
Happy Birding young bird nerds!
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