• AutoTL;DRB
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    16 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Birds have never shied away from turning human rubbish into nesting materials, but even experts in the field have raised an eyebrow at the latest handiwork to emerge from urban crows and magpies.

    Nests recovered from trees in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium were found to be constructed almost entirely from strips of long metal spikes that are often attached to buildings to deter birds from setting up home on the structures.

    The discovery prompted researchers at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden to scour the internet for further examples, leading to the identification of another anti-bird spike nest in Glasgow.

    “I really thought I’d seen it all,” said Kees Moeliker, the director of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, who studied the crow’s nest found during tree maintenance near the city’s main railway station.

    On Monday, a European team of researchers warned that nearly 200 bird species build nests with potentially dangerous human litter ranging from cigarette butts to plastic bags and fishing nets.

    Dr Jim Reynolds, an ornithologist at the University of Birmingham, who took part in that work said he was “amazed” at the anti-bird spike nests, but added that if any group of birds was going to do it, it would be the corvids, who are known for their cognitive skills.


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