Birds are gathering nesting supplies already

Is dryer lint ok to put out for the birds to use in building nests? I have robins and mockingbirds picking up grass thatch today.
They must know its getting close to spring time.

Yes, they love dryer lint.

Oh, good! I've got a little trash can filled with it.

Sounds like such a cool Idea .

I disagree about the dryer lint. Bad idea.

Read the 6th post down by 'Melody'.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/217958/

Start reading at the 6th post by 'lilyfantn'.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/599647/

There are a lot of other things you can put out for the birds to use for nesting. I get my groomer to save my dog's fur in the spring & I hang it in the apple tree with 4" pieces of wool & cotton. I also pick up feathers I find while walking. A couple of years ago the sparrows lined their nest with the cellophane wrappers from cigarette packs that they found in the neighbourhood.

Here in Aus. we have a bird called a Bower .
He will collect anything and everything as long as it`s the one colour .
Then he will adorn his Bower with all these things to impress the ladies .
If she is suitably impressed . Well ! How do you do , and how`s your father .

broots, thank you for posting the cons of dryer lint. I'll certainly not use dryer lint because of your caution. While I couldn't locate the Audubon's official thumbs down on the dryer lint, other posters you linked make a good point about wet dryer lint. I did visit the Audubon's site to find that there are some things I can save for the birds nesting material that I have around the house. Cotton from cigarettes and short yarn less than 6 in. as well as the pet hair you mention.

Quote from the Audubon site:

>>save my dog's fur in the spring

Broots -- my mom used to do the same thing. She had a very sheddy Golden.
Mom lives in Green Valley AZ and has those "cactus skeletons" in her yard, and she stuffed the lil holes with Molly's fur. The quail would come and grab it to make their nests... it was so cool to see.

Cordeledawg, I had never thought about the sphagnum moss but it's an excellent idea. One year the birds were pulling the green felt off of my hanging baskets & using it for nests. It really is amazing what you find in a bird's nest.

tcs1366, oh boy your Mom would have lots of fur & that must have been so cool to watch the quail take it from the holes in the cactus. Two years ago when the sparrows decided to use one of the swallows bird houses, I couldn't figure out where she was putting it all. She had mouthfuls of cotton & dog fur that was bigger than she was. She did this day after day. When I cleaned out the bird house in the spring, her nest must have been at least 9" deep. It was unbelievable. I still have it in the shed. I guess she had to make sure the babies could get out the hole when it was time to leave. The goldfinches spend a lot of time hauling too. I have even seen a hummingbird taking fluff.

Nice to know about the lint. Into the trash truck it will go. I have a shiba enu that sheds like crazy, twice a year. It is amazing the amount of hair that comes off this little dog. And I plan on getting my maine coon cat shaved this year, as his hair already so matted. So, that will be alot of hair for the chickadees.

I need to stop throwing away my horse's hair after I pull his mane and clip him.

vadap ,You have a 'shiba enu'
....And I have a plain old emu`
Sound much the same ?
You would need a whole horse to build a nest for this Bird ?

Kell, you're to funny. Shiba enu, literal Japanese translation is small dog. Never particularly liked little dogs, but she's a keeper. Very smart dog. Likes to herd you to the food bowl, and the number one cause of death(besides old age) for them is getting hit by cars. When they are on the attack of small animals, they are on "one track mind" mode. When the cat down the street comes to pick on my boy-'o, I just open the door and the chase is on. It's usually a couple of weeks before he comes snooping around again. Between the cat and dog, when they are shedding, I have to clean the furnace/a/c filter every two weeks, and vacuum at least every 3-4 days.
http://www.shibas.org/newstand/geninfo.html The pic at the bottom is about what our girl looks like.

Thatsb funny , I’ve never heard the word 'RUN' used to describe hight.

We run them up ginger. LOL.

LOL! To funny. She'll toe the line with foxes(alot around here and about the same size), but she doesn't particularly like the big dogs. Her boyfreind across the neighborhood is an Australian Cattle Dog(blue heeler). Gets quite upset when we don't walk her down that way.

I use to have this horse that would shed buckets of hair. i always thought that it would make the most devine bird nest lining, but I never saw any of the hair in old birds nests .

Got to tell y'all what my mom saw as she was stopped at a stop sign at the exit to her post office. Sitting on the stop sign was a bird with a cigarette in its mouth. Not lit mind you, but a full length one with the butt end in his mouth.
She had to take a second and a third look before he flew off with the ciggy-butt still in his mouth. Reminds me of the old heckle & Jekell cartoons. I'm sure he planned to use it for his (her) nest rather than looking for a match. LOL

LOL. That would have made a great pic. Today we have lots and lots of robins all hanging out in the yard. Never have seen so many hanging around all at once here. Can't complain though. Nice to look at.

Saw the first robin of the season yesterday. Sitting in a tree, and started singing right after I walked by him. Half scared me to death. You guys think it would be safe to pull the pet hair out of the vaccum cleaner? We have Dyson, so wouldn't be difficult at all. Or maybe to much dust, carpet fiber and dirt stuff in it?

I think the vacuum cleaner hair and all would be fine. Most of the dirt stuff would just sift out of your mesh bag anyway.