Careful with that Butt, Eugene

[Chris Sanderson <>]

It would be an interesting study to see whether it had a positive or
negative effect.  I think nicotine would help keep parasites away (I believe
it can be used to repel insects?) so maybe it could even have a net benefit
as nest material.

Regards,
Chris

On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 2:55 PM, Wendy <> wrote:

> If this is actually true (- I have trouble believing sparrows would use cig
> butts - but I guess my locals are well supplied with feathers from my
> chooks! Round here (inner Melbourne) it is the Mynahs that collect litter -
> mostly plastic film, including lots of the plastic crap from cigarette
> packages that grubby smokers also like to dump! to build their nests) maybe
> we have an alternative explanation for sparrow decline in UK - Nicotine
> (and
> all the other thousands of chemical nasties) poisoning of nest building
> birds and their chicks!!!
>
> wm