A variety of birds use the stray pieces of wool in our sheep fields
for nesting, and as a kid I would throw the down from peacocks into
the air when the swallows were building their nests and they would
catch it in mid-air. Because we regularly did this, all I would have
to do was hold the down as high as visible as I could in a breeze, and
the swallows would come to take it just inches from my fingers. Those
large pieces of down seemed to be highly prized by nesting birds. A
cautionary note, I've seen a Couch's kingbird chick hanging from the
nest tangled in a strand of baling twine (a polypropylene plastic),
just because birds will use these materials doesn't mean it's good for
the chicks, and I'd be careful about string unless it's very short,
loose-spun cotton. Think about what local birds would be using
naturally; fireweed fluff, strips of bark, feathers, fur...

On the subject of common vs scientific names, I believe it should be
that common names differ depending on where you go, and scientific
names differ over time as we learn more. Common, spatially, and
scientific, temporally. Birding suffers because the common names are
used scientifically, unlike in fields such as botany where common
names are expected to be variable and usually left alone by the
scientific community. So when I went to Texas and the ranch hands
showed me Tree Ducks, I called them Tree Ducks, because no one would
know what the heck I was talking about if I started spouting off about
bellies and whistling or scientific names. I think serious birders
should learn the scientific names, and leave the common names alone so
that in my hometown, a 30-year-old isn't pointing to a Marsh Hawk and
a 16-year old is arguing that it's a Northern Harrier, since what's
the point of having common names when they change so fast we can't use
them to communicate? That is what language is for. And why on Earth
don't they list some old common names in field guides, it's not like
they changed so many generations ago that everyone's caught up. My
recommendation: If you want to argue about names, learn the scientific
names, and let folks use whatever common names they want. You know
they will anyway.
-Darcy Stumbaugh, tireless supporter of dickie-birds, ouzles, and
Mexican Eagles.