Weak Signals [work in progress]

"Birds can be choosy about the materials they use to build their nest. Some line their nests with snakeskin to ward off enemies. Others fasten lichens with spider silk to the exterior for camouflage. Still others stuff feathers inside dome-shaped nests of sticks or create false entrances to dupe predators or add aromatic leaves to repel parasites and enhance the immune systems of their nestlings.

Increasingly, and troublingly for what it says about the state of the planet, birds are also using all sorts of plastic litter and other trash to build their nests."

Vanya Rohwer, curator, Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates

> Read