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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Ian Sample Science editor

Crows and magpies using anti-bird spikes to build nests, researchers find

Bird's nest made from anti-bird spikes.
One of the magpies’ nests made from anti-bird spikes. Photograph: Auke-Florian Hiemstra / Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Birds have never shied away from turning human rubbish into nesting materials, but even experts in the field have raised an eyebrow at the latest handiwork to emerge from urban crows and magpies.

Nests recovered from trees in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium were found to be constructed almost entirely from strips of long metal spikes that are often attached to buildings to deter birds from setting up home on the structures.

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