This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: It's spring, and Australian birds are building their nests. Alongside grass and twigs, birds are collecting our trash.
In 2023, a global study found litter in the nests of 176 different bird species, with common culprits including cigarette butts, plastic bags and fishing nets. The risks these materials pose for birds—and particularly chicks—include choking, poisoning and entanglement. In Australia, birds are already struggling, with a biodiversity crisis and the arrival of bird flu.
People might wonder: What can be done to help our feathered friends? One approach is to try to make better nest-building materials more readily available to birds, particularly at this crucial time of year. Our experimental project Peckable Architecture is designed to do just that.
As part of the Melbourne Fringe exhibition Design x Nature, 100 bricks made from natural nesting material have been installed across two prominent Melbourne sites: Federation Square and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Each brick combines bark, casuarina needles, fine twigs, coconut fiber and moss with an organic gelatin binder. The aim is for birds to collect the nesting materials they need as the bricks break down over time.
Birds' nests are extraordinary creations—intricate webs of natural materials coming in all shapes and sizes. Fairy wrens build domed nests, willie wagtails make open cups and apostlebirds build deep mud bowls reinforced with dried grasses in tree forks. In designing their nests, birds respond to the natural environment in ingenious ways.
A study of more than 700 nests held in museum collections found that those from rainy places had thinner walls to dry out faster, and open cup nests from windy places were often deeper to keep eggs from blowing away. As their local environments have changed over time, birds have adapted, incorporating human-made materials. A study of 893 nests from Australian museum collections, representing 224 species, found the occurrence of human-made materials in bird nests rose from 4% in 1832 to 30% in 2018.
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