The birds are all a-twitter. Time to lay out some string and others soft materials for their nests. This is a great project for children to participate in.
“HOW TO OFFER NEST MATERIAL
•Place nesting materials, such as twigs and leaves, in piles on the ground—other materials, too, if they won’t blow away.
•Put fluffy materials, hair, and fur in clean wire-mesh suet cages, or in string or plastic mesh bags. Attach them to tree trunks, fence posts, or deck railings. The birds will pull out the material through the mesh holes.
•Push material into tree crevices or drape it over vegetation.
•Put material into an open-topped, plastic berry basket (such as strawberries are sold in).
•Some manufacturers sell spiral wire hangers especially for putting out nest material. (One type looks like an oversized honey-dipper.)
~ The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Don’t be too quick to clean all of winter’s debris from your yard.
Gather up some of these items in your yard into small concentrated piles:
•Dead twigs
•Dead leaves
•Dry grass (make sure the grass hadn’t been treated with pesticides)
•Human or animal hair (especially horse hair) (use short lengths—no longer than 4-6 inches long)
•Pet fur (Never use fur from pets that received flea or tick treatments)
•Sheep’s wool
•Feathers
•Plant fluff or down (e.g. cattail fluff, cottonwood down)
•Kapok, cotton batting, or other stuffing material
•Moss
•Bark strips
•Pine needles
~ The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
MINDING MY P'S WITH Q 
how wonderful it is that you should post something such as this!
too many people have no idea or do not care about helping the birds & other wildlife.
I collect the lint from the laundry room in the Apt.building I live in….I get about 3 – 4 POUNDS a week in just the lint alone….when I get a package in the mail(as I often do at the beginning of the month), if there is a paper filler(brown paper/heavy duty packing paper), I will cut that up into small pieces & save it till I have a bag full, then I take that, along with the lint, & I will deposit it all around this brush pile where I feed the birds.
I have been doing this for so long that the birds rarely fly away when I walk up…I have had 1 or 2 perch on my head and shoulders….my reward for helping the birds does not get any better than that. ^_^
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Hi James, Thanks for the information. Having a bird perch on my head would be a reward for me too! 😀
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Hi James, You’ve been on my mind…how are you? Kathy
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What a nifty post! Do some birds have a decided preference? I’ve seen a couple of warblers and would like to attract them but I can live without the Starling flock.
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I’m not sure what would be preferred material. I put out the odds and ends of used up ribbons and yarn I had lying about.
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never had heard of helping the birds like this…interesting…
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I would love to see a piece of string that I had put out in a nest.
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maybe you will!…
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I hope so!
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I never heard of this either! Great post and I am going to spread the word.
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😀
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