In Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota I've noticed this fall that high in the trees that a lot of squirrels' nests seem to have plastic shopping bags in them. What's Up?

This fall I've been traveling from South Dakota through Minnesota and into Iowa.

I was recently stopped at a gas station in Albert Lea, Minnesota when I looked up in a stand of trees that had recently dropped their leaves when I noticed a squirrel's nest with a plastic shopping bag hanging out of it.

Do Squirrels In Minnesota, Iowa, & SD Use Plastic Bags In Nests-Ben Davis
Do Squirrels In Minnesota, Iowa, & SD Use Plastic Bags In Nests-Ben Davis
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I assumed a bag had just blown up there and gotten stuck in the branches.

On that same trip, I was shopping at a store in Decorah, Iowa when I noticed the same thing in some trees down by the Upper Iowa River.

I thought that was strange but I figured people just aren't being responsible in how they are handling plastic shopping bags and they must be blowing all over the place.

Do Squirrels In Minnesota, Iowa, & SD Use Plastic Bags In Nests-Getty Thinkstock
Do Squirrels In Minnesota, Iowa, & SD Use Plastic Bags In Nests-Getty Thinkstock
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A few days later in some trees by the Big Sioux River in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I saw it again...a plastic shopping bag coming out of a squirrel's nest.

This can't just be a coincidence. These little rodents must be using plastic as nesting material.

Sure enough...according to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History...

“Now that plastic exists as a readily available substance in the environment, birds and nest-building mammals such as squirrels and opossums, frequently incorporate plastic materials into their nests.”

Do Squirrels In Minnesota, Iowa, & SD Use Plastic Bags In Nests-Getty Thinkstock
Do Squirrels In Minnesota, Iowa, & SD Use Plastic Bags In Nests-Getty Thinkstock
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It appears that Squirrels are doing a much better job of recycling than us humans.

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