Study: Cigarettes Improve Your Health - If You’re A Baby Bird

[MrBirdman]

Not a cigar story, but I couldn’t resist. I normally dispose of my cigars in the woods behind my house (they’re leaves, after all), so now I can feel like I’m possibly doing the local birds a favor. 🙃 Interesting story wherever you put your butts. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/science/bird-nests-cigarettes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.UlA.o_C_.nbIBbVyxzDmT&smid=url-share

Excerpt:

Thirteen days after hatching, three babies per brood were measured and had blood drawn. Bloodwork indicated that nestlings in both the [artificially] sterilized nests and those with the cigarette butts were healthier than those in the untreated [i.e. natural] nests.

After the nestlings fledged, the researchers analyzed the parasite populations of all the nest material. The invaders were most numerous in natural nests and nearly absent from nests with the sterilized materials. In the butt nests, the parasites were slightly fewer than in the natural nests, particularly blowflies and fleas.