The Fluff of Choice

I remember spring in the midwest as the time of catkins and cotton. Just when you think the winter is over, down comes a blizzard of furry seeds from willows and cottonwoods, clogging your nose and your windowscreens–and providing food for migrating birds.

While May was cotton season in my Great Plains childhood, here in Tucson it’s March, and the trees are producing an abundant crop this year.

On our Tuesday morning walk at Sweetwater, Darlene and I found masses of cotton everywhere, on the trees, in the air, and blanketing the sidewalks. The birds were gobbling down the tiny seeds as fast as they could scoop them up; in the absence of an avian Eli Whitney, they took fluff and all, and many of the sparrows developed a decided resemblance to Santa Claus as the cotton clung to their bill and faces.

All that good soft stuff should be a dream come true for the birds just now lining their nests. Verdins, Lesser Goldfinches, and I suppose the hummingbirds use it gratefully. Apparently, however, Cactus Wrens can’t be bothered to collect it, finding the allure of plastic sacks and paper towels and other human debris just too great to resist.