This is a brave little bird!

When the Spring comes, birds around the world—and in your backyard—are turning into construction crews. This little bird didn’t heed the warning to let sleeping dogs lie. When it needed to make a nest, the crafty creature hopped onto the snoozing pooch’s back. The video shows the bird plucking chunks of fur from the sleepy dog, who doesn’t appear to be too bothered by the unrequested haircut. Perhaps she found it therapeutic?

“For about two weeks we have been watching the same bird stalking our dog, Maple. When she takes a nap the bird flies down and spends several minutes pulling fur from her side and rear. Then the bird flies into a bush and adds the dog fur to her nest. We have filmed her doing this at least three times. Maple only occasionally wakes up during these “fur harvest” sessions.” says Daniel Kersten, the owner of the sleepy dog.

It’s nesting time!

So, what can you do about it? Well, you can provide nesting material of a wide variety of types that appeal to a wide variety of birds, attracting avians to your garden as surely as you would with a feeder. Almost any kind of hair or wool will do. Dog hair is probably handiest for most people, especially when dogs are shedding in spring. Curry them, take the hair off the brush, and put it in your garden (we’ll talk below about ways to distribute it). You can also add some of your own hair to the mix, or hair from a horse or goat or wool from a sheep, should you have access to such animals.