The finished product keeps the mother and chicks warm and comfortable without drawing attention from predators. You can watch the tailorbird at work in the video below. Here are more birds with exceptional talents. BY Michele Debczak. These birds will put your sewing skills to shame.
Subscribe to our Newsletter! During Beta testing articles may only be saved for seven days. Create a list of articles to read later. You will be able to access your list from any article in Discover. The most intriguing quirk of the common tailorbird Orthotomus sutorius is perhaps that it creates its nest by sewing leaves together with its beak. Common tailorbirds are small songbirds that form long-term bonds and remain in one location year-round.
These highly active creatures flit between trees and shrubs, and sometimes hop on the ground to forage for insects. There are large populations of tailorbirds across Asia. Their ability to 'sew' their own homes is remarkable, but studying their nests can be a challenge even for the most proficient bird watcher. We are only just beginning to unravel the complexities of the structures of nests to learn about the evolution of these animals and their behaviours.
Overlaid text. Like all bird nests, the primary objective of the tailorbird's nest is to keep chicks safe and predators out. The species suffers high levels of predation, so camouflage is key, as is a low location, about a metre above ground level. The female carefully chooses a broad, strong, supple leaf which can provide good structural support once folded. A flimsy or dead leaf won't do as it will most likely break with stitching or under the weight of the chicks. A leaf in the middle of thick foliage is usually chosen to avoid the nest being seen, and at the end of a branch to reduce the possibility of a predator entering the nest.
The female wraps the leaf around herself to make sure it is the right size. If it isn't, she adds another one or two leaves. She then uses her feet to pull the leaf together and pierces a series of miniscule holes along the leaf's edge, using her long, slender beak, which is shaped like a needle.
The holes are so tiny that the leaf holds its shape, and it doesn't go brown. The female threads plant fibres such as cotton or lint or silk from insects such as cobwebs or caterpillar cocoons through the holes. The edges of the threads act like rivets, holding the leaf edges together. The stitches don't unravel, thanks to the coarseness of the thread and elasticity of the leaf springing back to grip the thread passing through the holes.
A single nest can contain between and stitches. The nest even has a roof to provide shelter from the monsoon rains and offer shade from the Sun, formed by one or more pieces of leaves pulled down. This also secures and conceals the nest, preventing predators from getting in.
There may be several false starts - when the thread breaks or a leaf tears - but the female works tirelessly to repair the damage by adding more stitches or another leaf. In some cases the nest is made from a single large leaf, the margins of which are rivetted together.
Sometimes the fibres from one rivet are extended into an adjoining puncture and appearing more like sewing. The stitch is made by piercing two leaves and drawing fibre through them. The fibres fluff out on the outside and in effect they are more like rivets. There are many variations in the nest and some may altogether lack the cradle of leaves. Next: Weaverbird nests , blackbird babies , cliff swallows , and hummingbird hatchlings.
Plus: A leaf-rolling weevil crafts its nest with careful folds. This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.
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