Photo of an anti-bird spike nest by Auke-Florian Hiemstra
No sooner had I published a post on urban birds using rubbish to build their nests - click here - than I came across several news reports on a Dutch study in to how super-intelligent crows and magpies are ironically incorporating technology designed to deter them from making a home into their nest designs, something that has astonished even those who have long admired corvids for their cognitive skills.
Apparently, nests recovered from trees in Rotterdam and Antwerp, were found to be constructed almost entirely from strips of those long metal spikes often attached to buildings in order to prevent our feathered friends from nesting, or even finding a place to perch for a few moments. Whilst the crows seem to have simply utilised the spikes as a sturdy construction material, the magpies may have appreciated their intended purpose, as they positioned most of
the spikes on the nest's roof where they could deter predators,
including other birds and mammals.
Interestingly, rather than merely finding old strips of anti-bird spikes at rubbish dumps, a researcher claims that crows and
magpies may even be removing the metal strips directly from
buildings in an act of avian vandalism.
As Dewey Finn would say: That is so punk rock!
Note: for more on this story visit the BBC News Science & Environment page: click here.
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