Cigarettes are bad for your health. But that’s only if you smoke ‘em. If you use them to (line) your nest, they might actually do you some good. Because birds that decorate their digs with (discarded) cigarette butts are less bothered by parasites. That’s according to a study in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
When building a nest, birds tend to make do with the materials at hand—or at beak. Twigs and (leaves) are popular choices. But what about city birds? Some reach for cigarettes, or at least the fluffy white (fibers) found in their filters.
Scientists got to wondering whether this habit might provide the birds benefits other than (comfy) bedding. So they grabbed the nests of finches and sparrows that were living on the campus of the National University of Mexico. That’s in the heart of Mexico City. And they found that the nests that were festooned with the most filter (fiber) had the lowest numbers of mites.
Could be that the little bloodsuckers are turned off by nicotine. Or maybe they’ve heard about the dangers of (secondhand) smoke. But for the birds, a butt a day might just keep mites away.
