---- [email protected] wrote: 
It seems that  many threads (wools for needlepoint and knitting, etc.) hold a 
lot of  moisture when wet and take a long time to dry.  It was reported that  
nests need to be dry, and the making of them from dry grasses, weeds, and twigs 
 is safer for baby birds, because the natural materials dry quickly.   

But wool *is* natural!  Wool, cotton, alpaca, silk, etc. are things birds can 
get in the wild.  And they do take it in the wild, even off the animals.  
Acrylic, polyester, nylon are synthetic and hold less water.  So how is wool so 
horrible?  

Many of these statements about what's safe or not for wildlife are not based on 
facts.  They are things that someone thought about and figured would be bad.  
They sound reasonable, but there have not necessarily been any tests to see if 
there is any lower nest survival.  That means I, too, don't know the truth, of 
course.  No data means *nobody* knows either way.

Robin P.
former collection manager, Section of Birds
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

now:  Los Angeles, California, USA
[email protected]

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