The birds in our neighborhood tend to be quite pampered. At our house alone, they’ve got two little girls who make sure that their feeder is always topped off with seed, and who sit at the window to admire them while they eat.
Since it’s spring now (and I insist this even though the high temperature here yesterday was 41 degrees Farenheit), those little girls have also been hopping around the house and yard, just like little birds themselves, finding all the best tidbits for the yearly offering that we like to call the Nesting Materials Buffet.
If you’ve got a plastic mesh produce bag that you’d rather not toss in the trash just yet, and a little time of your own to gather your own tidbits from your house and yard, then you, too, can set up a station for your own pampered neighborhood birds to come to and gather all sorts of goodies for building their nests.
Here’s how:
You’ll want to find a leftover mesh produce bag–often they’re used to contain onions or oranges at the grocery store, and sometimes they’re used in other packaging, as well (my daughter’s new baseball glove came with a baseball in its own plastic mesh bag, sigh).
You may be the sort who prefers only natural materials for your projects, but unless you want to seek out metal caging or chickenwire or make a container out of twigs, the plastic mesh produce bag really is ideal for this project–it’s sturdy, won’t hold germs or bacteria or other birdly grime, and easily air dries after a rainshower.
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This is a great idea, but I’ve read that birds can get their beaks caught in mesh like this. The community farm near to where I live puts out bundles of nesting materials that are just tied together, obviously this means you canot use the smallest pieces of material, but it does work!
Great concept, but I cringed when I saw you are using plastic netting. I could see birds or other small animals getting caught in these – we were taught to cut up anything with stretchy plastic rings or netting so animals wouldn’t get injured by them. It also seems a little odd to suggest putting plastic into the environment & not try to reuse it yourself or recycle it at a center. This idea could still be done with bits of things that can pull apart and are more earth friendly.
Wow! This is fantastic! I’d love to do an entire featured post on you and your blog! If you are interested you can find out how to do so here:
http://www.mydeliciousambiguity.com/2011/03/want-to-be-featured-on-my-delicious.html
I’d love for you to link up some of your other great ideas to my Tot Tuesday linky party. Have a great day!
This is all great stuff. I think the mesh bags are fine to use. We use them in the UK for lots of different bird foods and never had a problem with birds getting trapped before. Plus recycling these mesh bags is a good idea (we cant recycle here).
thank you for the ideas and inspiration!