Charity knitting project: Knitted nests

I recently learned about an exceptionally cute need for knitted charity projects. A wildlife rescue organization on Bainbridge Island has put out a call to knitters and crocheters to give them a hand.

Every year the West Sound Wildlife Shelter is flooded with baby birds and orphaned critters who need a cozy place to recuperate until they are big enough to be returned to the wild. The shelter's tool of choice used to be plastic strawberry baskets or cardboard boxes, until they tried out hand-knit wool nests. The results were clear: the knit nests outperformed the other containers in every aspect by a wide margin.

Wool is a natural fiber which many animals accept as a nesting material. (Unlike hard plastic or cardboard.) It is warm and fuzzy, and wicks away moisture to keep the baby animals dry. These cozy artificial nests can also be customized for the size of the baby animal by simply rolling down the edges of the nest to make it more shallow.

The shelter needs nests in a wide variety of sizes, from big to small, between about 4 and 8 inches in diameter. The nests are used for baby birds, as well as orphaned small mammals like baby squirrels and opossums. The smaller nests work well for smaller birds like juncos and chickadees, while larger nests are suitable for larger baby birds like jays and baby mammals.

This Kitsap Sun article features a pattern for a knit nest. I also found this pattern for a crocheted nest. The important thing about the nests is that they should be made of wool, knit fairly tightly (fewer gaps and less liable to felt), and the bottom of the nests should be flat.

The shelter says that they can use as many nests as you can send. If they somehow end up with a surplus of nests, they will send along the extras to other animal care organizations. So pick up those needles and crochet hooks and let's get to work!

Image courtesy Flickr/Paul J Everett