George's recent observation on goldfinches using caterpillar "silk" for
their nests is reproduced below. I have photographed Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
doing the same thing. One of the photos you can see here:
http://www.jimblockphoto.com/2010/06/gnatcatchers/
was used as a "1000 Words" image by Northern Woodlands magazine. 

Jim Block
Etna, NH
Digital photography courses
https://www.facebook.com/TugHillPhoto


-----Original Message-----
From: Upper Valley Birders [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of george clark
Sent: Sunday, July 21, 2013 4:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [UVB] goldfinch gathering webworm nest strands

About 2:30 PM today, an adult female American Goldfinch flew into a crab
apple tree here in the backyard in Norwich village and began to move around
in the vicinity of a newish caterpillar nest which had been first noticed
during the past week. Because caterpillars are not notable in the diet of
goldfinches, I was curious about what was happening and grabbed a pair of
binoculars. With the extra magnification I could see that she was gathering
fine strands of caterpillar "silk" in the vicinity of the nest. Eventually
she accumulated a wad of "silk" in her bill and then flew off out of sight,
presumably taking the "silk" for use in construction of her own nest.

The caterpillar nest appeared to be that of fall webworms which have in
previous years begun building similar looking nests in the same tree about
this time in the summer.

Subjectively, it is refreshing to contemplate that fall webworm nests can be
put to such "good use". The webworm nests are often somewhat unsightly from
a human perspective and a distraction during winter birding when distant
nests with birdlike shapes in leafless trees turn out not to be actual
birds.

Long term readers of UV-B may recall my previous post on this subject back
on July 17, 2011, when I made similar observations.

George Clark
Norwich, VT