Birds and mosses - a collection of sorts

Photo by Tim Laman

Birding is being reported as the second most popular hobby in America. For years bryologists and birders (and ornithologists, too), have observed birds using mosses for a variety of purposes, chief among them to line their nests.
This posting is a collection of references to interesting studies and amusing anecdotes about birds using mosses for nesting, in mating rituals, and in apparent, but birdlike, acts of aggression. 
In addition to the well-documented observations of mosses being used as padding and lining in bird nests, mosses are known to have antimicrobial properties, which is another reason birds are believed to line their nests with mosses.

Photo by Tim Laman

In the first article listed below from National Geographic, mosses are part of the decoration used by male bowerbirds to attract females to a mating site.  Enjoy the story and the images.

Build it and they will come, National Geographic, July 2010.
To win choosy females, male bowerbirds swagger, croon, and… decorate.
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Which Bird Made That Nest? Northern Woodlands 
by Bernd Heinrich, December 28, 2009. Illustration and images by Bernd Heinrich.

Cedar Waxwing on Arrowwood

Cedar waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum

Cedar waxwings nest in small evergreens or deciduous trees in edge habitat. The nest cup is untidy on the outside like a robin’s and of similar size, but it lacks the mud cup and is typically garnished on the outside with lichens and/or moss.
Red-breasted nuthatch Sitta canadensis
Red-breasted nuthatches build substantial nests of moss, down, and fibers in their nest cavities, whereas woodpeckers never put in any nest material.
Winter wren Troglodytes

All wren nests are domed, with a small entrance hole at the side. Those of the winter wren are most commonly garnished on the outside with green moss and small spruce or fir twigs. Although the wrens may place their nest under a stream bank, in hanging moss close to the ground, or in a small, densely branched tree, they are most commonly found in root tip-ups of wind-blown trees.
Ruby-throated hummingbird Archilochus colubris
Ruby-throated hummingbirds garnish their walnut-sized nests with lichens to “mimic” bumps on limbs. Nests are lined with soft white plant down. The only nest that is similar in habitat, placement, and appearance, though it is substantially larger, is that of the wood peewee.

See additional references and a series of illustrations and photos at the Northern Woodlands website. Bernd Heinrich is professor emeritus of biology at University of Vermont. His book, Nesting Season, was published in March 2010.
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Incidence of Nest Material Kleptoparasitism Involving Cerulean Warblers
by KC Jones, 2007, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology
Abstract
We document 21 observations of interspecific stealing of nesting material involving Cerulean Warblers (Dendroica cerulea), Red-eyed Vireos (Vireo olivaceus), Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (Polioptila caerulea), Northern Parulas (Parula americana), Black-throated Green Warblers (D. virens), American Redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla), and Orchard Orioles (Icterus spurius) that occurred during studies of Cerulean Warbler breeding biology. These incidents involved a variety of combinations of nest owner and nest material thief suggesting that each of these species is both a perpetrator and recipient of this behavior in our study areas. Kleptoparasitic incidents occurred at all stages of the nesting cycle from nest-building through post-fledging. Two possible motivations for this behavior are related to saving time in finding nest materials and collecting this material for nest construction.

Kelly C. Jones (1), Kirk L. Roth(2), Kamal Islam(1,3), Paul B. Hamel(2), and Carl G. Smith III(2), 1:Department of Biology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA. 2: USDA, Forest Service, Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research, P. O. Box 227, Stoneville, MS 38776, USA. 

3: Corresponding author; kislam@bsu.edu
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Making a nest in a bird box (with webcam)
View video images of a nesting Blue Tit build and hatch eggs inside a nest box. A Blue Tit arrived only a day after the box up on the side of a workshop!

Courtesy Ria3/flickr

Another Blue Tit building a nest with mosses

Birds of the Great Plains: Family Tyrannidae (Tyrant Flycatchers)
by Paul A. Johnsgard http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscibirdsgreatplains/38/
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Birds in Forested Landscapes, Hermit Thrush (Catharus Guttatus)
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/bfl/westernbirds9.html
Nest: The female builds the nest alone. Compact but bulky nest made of twigs, bark strips, mosses, ferns, and grasses. Lined with conifer needles, rootlets, and plant fibers.
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