Nesting material for birds

Spring is the season when birds are frantically gathering nesting material. My yard is not ultra tidy so they find lots of natural material available (leaves, moss, pine needles, twigs, etc.) But over the years I’ve inadvertently provided more nesting material by having cedar branches and hanging baskets available to tear apart.

 

The cedar branch had been made into a suet log but that didn't keep the birds from stripping all the bark fibers off to put in a nest. I enjoyed watching the brown-headed nuthatch strip it actually.

 

This year a Carolina chickadee is working it over again. The hanging basket was one of those wire ones with a coconut fiber liner. Over the years it kept getting holes in it and the dirt would leak out. It puzzled me until I finally caught the culprit in action (Carolina chickadee in that case).

 

Last year when I emptied out a bunch of hanging baskets, I saved the coconut fiber liners so I could set the fiber out as nesting material this year. I've already filled this suet feeder twice with fiber so I know the birds are using it. I was lucky enough to glance out the window in time to see a female eastern bluebird pulling lots of coconut fiber to take away for nest building. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera nearby.