A magpie nest in Antwerp, Belgium, including anti-bird spikes
Auke-Florian Hiemstra
Spikes put on structures to prevent birds are being utilized by birds to build nests in numerous places around Europe.
“It sounds like a joke,” says Auke-Florian Hiemstra at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands. “But it’s kind of heart-warming that these birds are actually outsmarting us and using anti-bird material for their own benefits.”
Birds frequently utilize tough branches as nest product, in some cases positioning them as a roofing to fend off predators and secure their young. In cities, nevertheless, there is an absence of irritable branches around, so a couple of birds have actually relied on anti-bird spikes.
So far, Hiemstra and his coworkers have actually observed this behaviour in carrion crows (Corvus corone) at one website in the Netherlands and in Eurasian magpies (Pica pica) at websites in Belgium, the Netherlands and Scotland.
In a tree near a medical facility in Antwerp, Belgium, a magpie made a nest including around 1500 metal spikes. The spikes on the side of the building closest to the tree were gone, while those on the other side were still undamaged. This recommends that the birds have actually been ripping the spikes out, instead of gathering loose spikes.
The scientists have actually likewise seen magpie nests with protective domes including barbed wire and knitting needles.
They wish to discover whether the spike-laden nests are much better at safeguarding chicks than routine ones. “Is there more breeding success when birds build nests with the anti-bird spikes? It could be possible, but for that now we have just too low of a number of observations,” says Hiemstra.
“We really hope that people start looking at nests more closely, so we can find more of these examples,” he says.
Journal recommendation: Deinsea
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