Cigarette Smoking is Good ... for Birds!

Who else is wondering if the chicks hatched with some sort of cancer?

at least its soft and insulated... I guess.

Last summer we cut down some overgrown trees down that bordered our property. There was a small abandoned bird's nest in them that I was excited to keep and display, or use for some kind of art project, but once I saw it up close, it was half made of trash. And not "neat" trash that could offer some kind of social commentary, just stinky food wrappers and other dirty crap. Still a miracle of natural construction and all, but yuk!

bean, my thoughts exactly...
This person doesn't have the heart to chase it away? Let's see...what hundreds of chemicals have seeped into the POROUS surface of the eggs, possibly mutating, killing or at very least, making the babies and the mama and papa sick? And if any babies survive, how will that affect their babies (if they aren't barren) or animals that may eat them?

Lea,
I heard he's going to cook the birds once they hatch! He'll feast on their blood like a vampire. Sick, I know! What's wrong with these people?!?

...
In years past I have cleaned bird nests out of one of our gutters that did not drain correctly.

In them have been literally hundreds (or so it seemed) of the narrow cellophane strips produced when a softpack of smokes is opened. For some reason the birds seemed to like them for nest-building material.

In recent years the number of 'strips' in the nests I have found has been far less. Perhaps that is an indirect indicator of the success of 'no smoking' campaigns.

Or it could just be the convenience store near us has also been closed for those same years. I can just see the frantic smokers walking out of the store ripping their pack of smokes open to get their next fix.

...tom...
.

Oh Rich, your wit! It's searing.

Not.

Cool, can I get one of those chicks to stick in between my cheek & gum? Cheaper than nicotine patches!

I would have thought that the stench of the cigarette butts would have kept the birds away...

I'm guessing the cellophane and filters are good heat insulators. Also hoping that there isn't much for the eggs to absorb from them.

I was wondering about cancer, too, but it seems like the twigs and stuff would likely insulate the eggs from seepage, right?

isnt tar one of the main cancer promotors? and this is non soludable in water, thats why it's such a problem in lungs. This would also imply that it does not harm the birds, unless they start to smoke em. They might get an nicotine addiction tho.

I remember hearing about a species of bird that would rub themselves with cigarette butts to keep a type of mite away. Maybe there is something similar here.

Darwinism at work. A new breed of nicotine fowl. Hopefully we can smoke the feathers since smokes cost so much these days...

That is cute in a weird sort of way. ha ha

i once found a mouse nest made of butts too!!!

Nicotine is a natural insect repellent, and will keep mites, fleas and ticks off of the baby birds. Besides, birds have way better instincts than we do. If it was so bad for them, you'd think they wouldn't want to have babies near it.

You can soak cig butts in water and make a plant spray to keep aphids off of your roses. That's what my grandpa used to do and it works great.

to those of you with unsubstantiated commentary about mutant birds.
Birds arent dumb... you are dumb... a bird wouldnt build its nest in a vat of toxic waste so why would it build its nest in butts if they were toxic. those butts are so old and the chemicals left in them (if any at all) are not cancer causing chemicals and they wouldnt leech through a birds nest into an egg! you speak of butts as if they contain evil spirits that take over birds bodies. where do you get your information? pastor bob!? get over yourselves! you act as if smoking is comparable to radiation contamination from a nuclear bomb. are you aware that the vehicle you drive to work puts out a higher volume of toxins than a smoker could produce in a whole year of smoking just on your drive to work? no i didnt think so. and i bet your a republican. so next time you even ponder heckling a smoker ponder this... how would you feel if someone heckled you for driving a car... or even worse for being fat... if you can walk up to a smoker and say ew gross that will kill you... why wouldnt you walk up to a fat person with a twinkie and say ewwww gross your killing yourself! you wouldnt because it would be rude, so is heckling smokers. so get your facts straight or shut up.

I find this repulsing...and to Sar, your logic makes no sense. "a bird wouldnt build its nest in a vat of toxic waste so why would it build its nest in butts if they were toxic." First a bird does not know these things are toxic, and second people KNOW cigs are toxic and yet they still smoke them..so from your logic all smokers are dumb.
Also there are over 4000 chemicals in a cig and guess what, they are still in the filter (thats the point of the filter..to trap the chemicals, which btw are added to cigs to make them more addictive.)
Lastly people always try to use alcohol or fat to somehow try to justify their smoking habits, but the reason why smoking is different from these things is because tobacco is the only product that when used as directed will kill you. If you drink/eat in moderation or as intended it will not kill you, but smoking will.
Now in saying all this I do not look down upon people who smoke, I believe it is your choice. However, I do not like litter and cig butts are a major source of litter which when ingested by wildlife is lethal.

Sandy, it's not really litter if it was in his TRASH CAN. You should be mad at the birds. Thieving little noise-polluters. Perhaps you should ask if the birds lived before saying they're doomed. Imagine if they read that. "My house is toxic?!? OMG!"
You just gave an innocent bird a heart attack. Nice going, bird killer.

it is a piece of art, genius! not intentional indeed but a realistic tone. nature did its part.

I have a pet chicken who is addicted to nicotine. When she was young and about to reach "henhood", she managed to snatch a freshly lit Marlboro Light 100 from my friend and ate the whole thing, cherry and all. To this day she always chases after my cigarette butts and eats the tobacco out of them.

It amazes me how people living in America are so unaware of the rest of the world, let alone the parts of the world surrounding them. Humans are so incredibly selfish that the majority of people out there actually think its ok that a bird built a nest out of gross old butts. This image is so powerful, yet so many people are blind and refuse to understand that humans are not the most important animals on this earth. It's sad, because one day we will ruin it all to the point that humans will no longer exist, but luckily, nature will make a come back. We just won't be around to see it anymore.

Gosh it looks like the bird is showing liberals what a bunch of nit-wits they are