A robin´s nest made (almost) entirely of moss

Abstract

While we were struggling through some Mountain Ash forest near Powelltown in Victoria, lightly burnt in 2009 (the forest, not us), we came across this extraordinarily tiny robin´s nest on a branch of an Olearia argophylla. Except for a few strands of grass, it was woven entirely from Thuidiopsis sparsa, which was not otherwise present at the site. We assume that the bird(s) deliberately harvested the moss from off the site, knowing it would be suitable for a nest. Although the nest was woven quite loosely it was very strong, probably because of the spikiness of the moss and the way the branches intertwine when they are wrapped about each other. The attachment to the branch was by way of numerous strands wrapped around the main branch and a smaller divergent branch. We now call this species ‘Velcro Moss´!