22nd April 2009

Earth Day - A Look at How We Could Learn from Birds & Their Ability to Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

I’ve always had a thing for wild birds - not in my house - but outside, feeding from a birdfeeder hanging from a tree.  I love to listen to the sounds on dog walks - I can identify most birds by hearing them, before I see them.  The benefits of not walking with an iPod while walking the dog over the years. 

My favorite bird?  A goldfinch?  Why?  Two reasons:  they eat upside down (or can), and they have a cool flight pattern - if you watch them in the skies they look like they’re on a roller coaster, and as they come down the “hill” in the roller coaster, they sound like they’re giggling.  Watch and listen for these finches, or better yet, hang a goldfinch feeder in your yard, and get some neijer seed and they’ll be attracted to your yard.


From http://www.iwrc-online.org/kids/Facts/Birds/goldfinch2.htm

So, while goldfinches are my absolute favorite birds, I like to feed wild birds including cardinals, robins, any finch, and any bird of color that adds some life to my yard.  I plant wild flowers and perennials to attract birds.  On occasion, I have had a bird nest in my yard, in a hanging plant.  This year, however, I have a bird nesting in a rather unusual place.  She is nesting in a forsythia wreath hanging on my front screen door. 

Last week, on the morning Mom & Dad left, I noted something looked a bit odd on my screen door.  From my vantage point from within the house, I could see something looked different on the wreath.  I just couldn’t determine why.  I continued to stare at it while I talked on the phone with someone.  But then all of a sudden, two birds came up and landed in the wreath.  I realized they were building a nest. 

Excited, I went up to the nest after they flew away.  I looked at the ingredients of the nest and was excited to see Bentley’s cat hair hanging off the nest in a glob of fur.  I saw human hair neatly stitched into the nest in what seemed specific places.  I saw different types of bush material woven into the nest, including some prickly stuff - thought that was kinda cool - which might be thistle?  The nest got thicker and deeper in the next several days (they take about 8 days to build a nest). 

http://www.shawcreekbirdsupply.com/american_goldfinch_info.htm - Nest building
The female builds the nest in late summer up to 30 feet off the ground in the terminal branches of a bush or tree. Nest building occurs in 10 to 40 minute spurts, during which material is brought to the site and laid down. There may be periods of hours or days when nothing is added. The average interval between the start of the nest and the laying of the first egg is eight days.The female strips fibers from dead trees, weeds, and vines and utilizes catkins as well as grass to construct the outer shell of the nest. She sometimes dismantles the nests of other birds to use the materials in her own nest. She reinforces the rim of the nest with bark bound by sticky spider silk and caterpillar webs. The nest is lined with plant down from thistles, milkweed, and cattails.The male often accompanies the female on flights for nesting materials. He may carry some materials back, but leaves the actual construction of the nest to the female. He perches nearby, singing and calling to his mate. At the first sign of danger the male or female will whistle sweet or call bearbee, bearbee, bee, bearbee.

And she began to sleep on the nest at night, which means I guess that she has laid her eggs.  They incubate for 10-14 days, depending on the source you consult on the Web….

The only concern I have about this, is that it’s the front door, and I have a dog I let out that way.  We’ve tried to limit our entrances and exits, and know we’ll soon need to curtail all exits that way.  Babies should arrive in less than two weeks, according to what I’ve read tonight.

I began talking to the mailman about birds’ nests and he said he collected them.  He was always amazed to see the materials they’d find laying around, trash, cigarette butts, hair, plant materials - and how they stitched it into the nest.  I’ve always respected a bird’s ability to survive cold winters here in Ohio, as little as they are, but they really do have a lot we can learn from.  While they suffer from our abuse of the planet, they really have the reduce, reuse and recycle concept down well.

Reduce - they have small humble abodes for their young

Reuse - they reuse things laying around in nature, whether they’re supposed to be there or not (trash NOT)

Recycle - without fancy chemical recycling plants, they recycle plant material, trash material, human & animal material for integration within their homes

I’ll work to post some pictures of my bird nest in the wreath - but here are some photos of other goldfinch nests found on the Web tonight.

By the way, baby wild birds need to eat every 15 to 20 minutes during daylight.  Okay, so feeding Melina in the first eight weeks every 1-2 hours seems like nothing, huh?

Want to attract the American Goldfinch to your yard?  Here are some tips on what goldfinches look for:

http://www.wildbirdsforever.com/goldfnch.html - reference to how they build their nests, usually near water and food, and that they create a bowl like nest, with plant as the base material

http://www.iwrc-online.org/kids/Facts/Birds/goldfinch2.htm - very nice reference - talks about being near thistle - which is what I think I saw in the plant nest - nest in forked branches - like my forsythia wreath - it has forked branches in it (albeit fake).

http://www.audubon.org/bird/boa/F15_G8a.html

So on Earth Day, don’t forget to take your recycling in, reuse something, and reduce your intake of plastic.  Take a walk and listen to the birds sing, nest and feed.  And enjoy this beautiful Earth we live on - and take care of her.  I think it’s only fitting that last year, I blogged for ten months about a fertility journey.  It’s great to know, that after having Melina in November, that the fertility journey continues around me - right at my front door.  I think that’s good karma. 

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