Remarkable Craftsmen in the Bird World

DID you know that some birds were masters of weaving, textile manufacture, tailoring and riveting long before the industrial revolution? And the homes they build are often exceedingly strong. But how did they learn these remarkable skills?

For example, is it strength you look for in a home? Then consider the hammerkop’s work. This brown, storklike bird found in most of Africa works for six months to build a nest of enormous strength. It places sticks and reeds in a forked tree or on a rocky ledge to form floor, walls and a strong domed roof over the nesting chamber. The structure is further strengthened with mud plaster. The entrance is placed over a sheer drop, making it inaccessible to predators. These nests are about nine feeta in diameter and are so strong that a man can jump on one without harming the nesting chamber below!

Other birds in all parts of the world use grass and sticks as building material, but some “manufacture” textile as well. The European penduline tit and the tiny Cape penduline tit are master builders who use fine, woolly substances from plants and animals to make a tough, felt-like cloth for nest building. It is reported that the European species builds its nest so well that some peasants in parts of Eastern Europe use them for children’s slippers.

The tailorbird of Asia knows how to stitch leaves together. It may choose a single leaf large enough to be folded over and stitched together, or a number of leaves that can be joined together. With its sharp bill it punches holes around the edge of the leaf, then uses its bill and claws to maneuver fine grass or vegetable fibers through the holes. When sewn, the leaves form a pouch or purse into which the female places a lining of soft downy matter. She is now ready to lay her eggs in this snug little tailor-made home.

The barred warbler of southern Africa uses a slightly different method. It joins a cluster of leaves together with vegetable down or cobwebs. How? By “riveting” them. The bird punches the thread through the leaf and then teases it out at each end, forming a ‘rivet head’ to prevent the leaves from slipping off the thread.

Weaver birds of Africa know how to tie knots. With one foot they hold down one end of a piece of grass to a branch, then use their beaks to wrap and tie the grass around the branch. From this, a woven ring of grass is suspended as the basis of the nest. As many as 300 strands are then woven into a hollow ball. Some species have a vertical entrance tunnel projecting several inches below the nesting chamber. To prevent the eggs from rolling out they build a little ridge between the nesting chamber and the entrance tunnel.

Remarkable craftsmen indeed! But who taught them their weaving, textile manufacturing, tailoring, riveting and engineering skills that take humans years of schooling and practice to develop? How apparent it is that such instinctive wisdom has been implanted in them by their Creator.

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