This is Birdnode.

The spider's web is an intricate piece of precision engineering, and the spider's

silk it's constructed with is amazing.

Made from large proteins, it's sticky, stretchy, and tough, so it's no surprise that many

small birds make a point of collecting strands of spider's silk to use in nest construction.

Things like hummingbirds, kinglets, natcatchers, and some virios.

Golden-crowned kinglets, among the smallest of songbirds, build a tiny square nest.

They often use strands of spider silk to suspend the structure from adjoining twigs,

like a tiny hammock.

When a female ruby-throated hummingbird is building her nest, she collects the spider

silk she needs by sticking it all over her beak and breast.

When she reaches the nest site, she'll press and stretch the silk onto the other materials,

such as lycan and moss, creating a tough, tiny cup.

Spider silk not only acts as a glue holding the other bits together, but it's flexible

enough to accommodate the growing bodies of nestlings, where we might reach for duct tape.

These birds turn to spider silk.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.

Bird Note gives you the sounds of birds every day, and you can get the sights as well when

you follow us on Instagram at Bird Note Radio.