I am posting an amusing (and somewhat disgusting) video taken by Amit Gordon in 2020. It's exactly what you think it is: a pair of bushtits gathering toilet paper for their nest. Ugh.
Bushtits build their large, pendulous nests using spider web and lichen as the brick and mortar. But they do add other elements they find in their environment --- twigs, leaves, moss, etc. Unfortunately, if toilet paper is available --- and it is in Oaks Bottom in some areas --- they will also gather that and incorporate it as well. We call these nests "toilet paper nests" as it's pretty obvious when they add the stuff. They look a bit white and fluffy.
When I first saw one festooned in such a manner, I worried that it would dissolve when it rained. I mean, that's what toilet paper is designed to do, right? Eventually, anyway. But the first TP nest surprisingly survived to fledging and was even reused in the same season.
Not so the nest of this little pair. I think they used so much toilet paper, the nest only progressed to a loose hanging sack. And then it simply fell out of the tree. There just wasn't enough of substance to keep it together.
My guess is these were first year birds. Maybe they learned their lesson. Maybe not.
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