Crows and Magpies Using Anti-Bird Spikes To Build Nests, Researchers Find 27
Birds have never shied away from turning human rubbish into nesting materials, but even experts in the field have raised an eyebrow at the latest handiwork to emerge from urban crows and magpies. From a report: Nests recovered from trees in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium were found to be constructed almost entirely from strips of long metal spikes that are often attached to buildings to deter birds from setting up home on the structures.
The discovery prompted researchers at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden to scour the internet for further examples, leading to the identification of two more anti-bird spike nests: one in Enschede in the Netherlands and another in Glasgow. "I really thought I'd seen it all," said Kees Moeliker, the director of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, who studied the crow's nest found during tree maintenance near the city's main railway station. "I didn't expect this. These anti-bird spikes are meant to deter birds, they are supposed to scare them off, but on the contrary, the birds just utilise them."
While the Rotterdam nest was made by crows, the other three were built by magpies, which construct large dome-like nests. The crows used the anti-bird spikes as a sturdy construction material, but the magpies may have appreciated their intended use: they placed most of the spikes on the nest's roof where they could deter predators, including other birds and weasels. [...] It is not the first time birds have been found to incorporate urban materials into their nests. In 1933, a South African museum reported a crow's nest fashioned from hard-drawn copper, galvanised iron and barbed wire. Nails, screws and even drug users' syringes have all found their way into birds' nests.
The discovery prompted researchers at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden to scour the internet for further examples, leading to the identification of two more anti-bird spike nests: one in Enschede in the Netherlands and another in Glasgow. "I really thought I'd seen it all," said Kees Moeliker, the director of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, who studied the crow's nest found during tree maintenance near the city's main railway station. "I didn't expect this. These anti-bird spikes are meant to deter birds, they are supposed to scare them off, but on the contrary, the birds just utilise them."
While the Rotterdam nest was made by crows, the other three were built by magpies, which construct large dome-like nests. The crows used the anti-bird spikes as a sturdy construction material, but the magpies may have appreciated their intended use: they placed most of the spikes on the nest's roof where they could deter predators, including other birds and weasels. [...] It is not the first time birds have been found to incorporate urban materials into their nests. In 1933, a South African museum reported a crow's nest fashioned from hard-drawn copper, galvanised iron and barbed wire. Nails, screws and even drug users' syringes have all found their way into birds' nests.
Pigeons too (Score:3)
In my apartment in a certain warm-weather country there is a severe pigeon infestation outside the building. They land and poop everywhere - window sills, balconies, AC compressors, you name it.
I've installed carpets of bird spikes everywhere I could. Several times I've seen pigeons build their nests right on top of the spikes, incorporating spikes into the structure. These birds are extremely tough too. I've noticed an unusual sound from the outside once, and upon further look found a pigeon repeatedly pushing with its body into a narrow area between the tops of metal spikes and the wall, until it was able to bend the spikes enough to squeeze in there. Over time I've noticed the same in many areas - these birds used their bodies to bend spikes and then build nests in the newly opened area.
Unfortunately, that country is also famous for poor hygiene and open trash containers, so there is no way to resolve this issue fundamentally.
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Create some bird snares and start killing em then draining the blood and leaving drops of it on the roof. They'll learn to leave your building alone quick enough.
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Re: Pigeons too (Score:2)
I saw an interesting strategy in Uganda where wealthy estates would have broken bottles embedded secured into the top layer of concrete/mortar. I don't think it was for birds, but I didn't any birds perching on walls.
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Yeah, that one's easier where labour is cheaper so the building cost is close to zero. The advantage of the spiked rollers is that there's nothing to grip onto for climbing, so they're anti-climb as well as anti-touch. They're also usually combined with several runs of electrified wire and then cameras or PIR sensors along that.
Then inside that houses with stout masonry walls and solid bars on all the windows. And even that sometimes isn't enough.
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So it begins (Score:5, Funny)
Magpies are starting to outsmart humans.
Give them enough time and they're surpass us, and we'll have a Planet of the Corvids, specially given the recent de-evolution of the human intellect.
Oh well, anyway. I, for one, welcome our new feathered overlords.
Re:So it begins (Score:4, Funny)
Sometimes I think we're already living on the Planet of the Corvids. They have done a rather good job harnessing hairless apes to do their bidding; provide them food, shelter, and heck even the raw materials to construct their own. I bow to our Corvid overlord.
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shiny objects (Score:2)
Re:shiny objects (Score:5, Informative)
This is an urban legend [wikipedia.org].
Rise of The Corvids (Score:2)
No surprise there then.
Probably these strips were ripped up form where either the installer scrimped on the glue, or put the strip in place after it had rained.
What we need is to train crows - marvels of dinosaur intelligence - to install anti-bird strips, but do the job better than stoopid hoominz. But we know the crows would steal the glue and spike strips, then it's time for AI-Hitchcock to re-produce "The Birds"
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Birds will likely take over as the most intelligent species on the planet, after humans wipe themselves out. They may even use our own recorded knowledge to help them develop science and technology. We really should help them out by printing Wikipedia on huge stone monoliths, incorporating nesting spots in the structure.
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Oh, wait ...
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Birds will likely take over as the most intelligent species on the planet, after humans wipe themselves out. They may even use our own recorded knowledge to help them develop science and technology. We really should help them out by printing Wikipedia on huge stone monoliths, incorporating nesting spots in the structure.
Sounds like you would enjoy playing Hyper Light Drifter.
Re: Rise of The Corvids (Score:2)
Been reading Tchaikovsky?
https://www.amazon.com/Childre... [amazon.com]
Damn. (Score:1)
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Register for free.
Clever crows (Score:4, Interesting)
The crows in my neighborhood have learned to associate brief human visits with food deliveries like DoorDash. I recently watched a crow follow the letter carrier down the street, checking each porch for food after the carrier had moved on to the next house. Each mail stop, all the way down the street.
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While not a great movie (Score:2)
Jurassic Park: Nature Finds a Way.
big deal (Score:2)
ok, so it is kinda ironic that they use anti-bird deterrents to build nests...
and maybe a bit cool that they also use tools...
with perhaps a touch of sentience suggested by their overall intelligent behavior...
but it's nothing to crow about
They buried the real story (Score:1)
The link in TFA about homosexual necrophelia duck rape is certainly an eye opener.
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Once you learn about ducks' sexual habits you tend to feel a little less interested in feeding them at the local park.
Next you should read up on how this behaviour has influenced the evolution of their reproductive organs.