Three days ago, I watched an odd looking (female) House Finch: it had a beard.
These finches like seeds and initially I thought that it had one of those fluffy seeds such as those of a dandelion or a cottonwood. But that could not be right; their availability is still months off.
Today, I watched the bearded finch on a different tree, but at the same place. What was going on?
The clue to its behaviour lay beneath an adjacent home: insulation. In building its nest, the House Finch uses stems, leaves, rootlets, and thin twigs, but chooses finer materials for a lining. Our bird had discovered some home insulation it thought was ideal for a nest lining.
Oh no! Is it fiberglass?
hope the finch will make it through with a clutch with that stuff in the nest
Good story and photo detective work! Here at home, in robin nests we have found coloured strands from old plastic woven tarps..
The dog hair I comb out of my Poco, is useful material for bird nests too.
One source of fluffy seeds for seed material at this early time of year is last year’s cattails. They usually break apart at this time of year.
*nest material