Birds Building Better Homes using Manmade Objects…

The Latest Styles... In ’ Yakov M. Wagschal While the human race continues its inexorable march toward technological advancement, birds are doing some advancing of their own. If you think that these brains blindly follow the tried and true building methods of previous generations, think again. Birds have joined the Industrial Revolution in ways that are truly amazing. Read how they build complex multi-family "apartments" on things like utility poles, use cigarette butts for insulation, reinforce their homes with barbed wire and more!

68 | ZMAN • June 2015 ZMAN • Sivan 5775 | 69 The Huge Structures a time. on Utility Poles accommodateSociable weaver as many nests as 300-400 are veritable birds at cross the arid savannahs of the south- ern region spanning Aparts of , Botswana apartment houses—making them probably the only on Earth other than humans spectacle. Near the top of the electric poles to house so many in a single structure. and Namibia one can find a truly strange And Like a Good Neighbor… Most birds build nests so that their hatch- sit huge mounds of straw that look like they were deposited by a violent whirlwind. The sociable weaver. Left: Sociable weaver delivers construction material with its beak. Right: Peeking out of their In fact, they are not simply mounds of itslings nest will as have a permanent a place to stayhome until for theyits chicks, learn chamber inside the enormous nest. Note the sharp straw at the entrance positioned to deter intruders. ofstraw, bird nor known were as they the depositedsociable weaver by winds (also or to fly. The sociable weaver, however, builds even humans. They are the work of a species forced the sociable weaver to learn new restalbeit accommodate with only a entire few chambers families of inside birds. the If Unlike most birds, which leave the nest as “sociable”known as because social weaver). live in large, Relatively organized small nests set aside for newly-hatched chicks. The all bird-hands on board; everyone works. colonies(about 5 and 1/2 build inches massive long), theyhomes, are which called move in. waysThe to sociable adapt. By weaver building builds large its structures nest from remain in their parents’ home. When new an “apartment”The nests of theopens sociable up, a weavernew family birds will are straw,they found hard protection grass and thinin numbers. branches. In some chickssoon as hatch, they their learn older to fly, siblings sociable and weaverscousins cases, the bird inserts individual stalks of

the largest in the world. They look like huge one, until it is transformed into a single, help out. They search for soft materials to mounds of hay. Some measure 20 feet wide enormousstraw into structure. the large mound of hay one by padResearchers the “cribs” and believe help in that finding the more shortage food structuresand 10 feet are tall. so Theirlarge wallsthat sometimes can be seven (in The birds build their nests with the offor food the hungry in the newborns.desert is the reason siblings thefeet rarethick rainfall and weigh when over the 2,000 nests pounds. are soaked The entrance underneath. This protects them remain at home to help their parents. The from eagles and similar predators from parents are incapable of providing for the collapse under their weight. with water) the trees in which they are built occasional rain that inundates the desert. above. It also prevents flooding during the young unaided. When scientists began reasonUsually, is that though, sociable they weavers do not buildare prone their nest is three inches wide and ten inches long. birdsspreading remained seeds behind daily beneathto help. one sociable tonests attack in from trees snakes but on that utility like to poles. eat their The The entranceway to the sociable weaver’s weaver nest, they noticed that far fewer The nests are so heavy that the trees in which they are built sometimes collapse under the weight. It isThe often inner protected chambers by aresharp not branches connected that to hatch.eggs. In Unlike fact, predatorstrees, the stealsmooth, around tall electric70% of prevent predators from forcing their way in.- Heating and Cooling telephonethe sociable poles weavers’ offer more eggs of before a challenge they canfor rate entrance from outside. Sociable though in the Straw Structures snakes to climb. Because of this, sociable each other. Each is accessed through a sepa weavers tend to nest in areas with an abun- theySome are, of these the chambers weavers apparently serve as nurseries respect insects. In addition to basic nutrients, their straw projects cause blackouts during rains whereone another’s the eggs privacy. lie. These rooms measure Sociable weavers feed primarily on dance of utility poles. (On occasion, their the birds a bad reputation with the locals.) theseinsect birds diet provideswill also eat most seeds of the and water plants. they or firesWhat during did the hot, sociable dry spells. weaver This dohas before given four to six inches across and are specially need in the desert. When they can find some, - Thisconstructed includes soft with grasses whatever and feathers. extra-soft In onematerials case, biologist the weavers Gavin can Leighton lay a beakfrom the on. telephonemassive structures. poles and powerTheir lines?nests Ornitholo used to resemblegists say thatthe theysmaller did notsingle always units build of theirsuch - cousins, the other weaver birds around ersUniversity for research. of Miami That left cotton behind soon some found cotton its the world. Their need to survive in desert in the field after drawing blood from weav The entrances to sociable weaver nests are placed below to protect them from aerial predators and conditions and to protect themselves from Humans can learn a lot from sociable to prevent flooding during rains. weavers.way into oneWhen of theit comes egg chambers. time to build, it’s Kalahari Desert in South Africa.

the large numbers of birds of prey that exist 70 | ZMAN • June 2015 ZMAN • Sivan 5775 | 71