Hummingbirds won't take nesting material. They build their nests out of spider webs and litchen. You can certainly try putting various nesting materials in the other one and see if there are any takers. Find out what birds in your area use for nesting material, and then fill it with that.

Okay kendra2. I will fill the bigger one with straw, cotton, sheep wool, stems, cattail fluff, and short pieces of yarn. For the hummingbird one I will try to fill it with small strings of cotton. Maybe I will add moss or lichen? Well I will definitely update soon.

Last year the day after we groomed our two dogs outside, I saw a ton of birds taking the fur scraps/clippings! They were making repeated trips, I was surprised. So if you have a dog, you could put a bit of that in your cage. They also like thread or thins strips of cloth. It sounds like you have a good idea of what to put in for them.

A little OT-we found a squirrel nest that fell last week, and it was full of strips of black landscape cloth (the squirrel must've torn it himself?), feathers, and some pillow-stuffing looking material. And leaves, lots & lots of leaves.

The link has some great suggestions towards the bottom of the page.

Here is a link that might be useful: attracting birds article

I found that birds in my area also loved dog hair! When I groom my dog I do leave some of it in the yard for the birds.
A couple of years back I found a birds nest made with tons of horse hair ( my neighbors had horses) so now when I groom my horse I bring home the hair and set it out for the birds. I'm sure my neighbors think I am nuts, but horse mane and tail hair is very strong and the body hair is soft and warm.

Thanks for he input everyone! I can't wait for birds to nest!

Forgot to say that I have two dogs and a cat. Now I have motivation to brush them :)

jeanie, that's funny you say that-the article I linked to suggests horse hair too! Eric, you'll need to get a horse now, which may end up being more fun than bird watching. It'll cost a little more too lol.

If I could get a horse I would :) but sadly my sister is highly allergic :( I will use sheep wool I collected from the county fair instead :) Thanks for the link jomuir.

It's possible that the birds will take nesting materials from your devices. It's worth an experiment!

My sister has long-haired cats and every spring I fill a suet cage with their cat fur and hang it from a tree. Within a few weeks, the fur is gone! Assorted birds take the fur and even a red squirrel.

Here is a Titmouse getting fur a few years ago -
{{gwi:314214}}

Here's the red squirrel -

wow, what nice pics. I love seeing them in action. And it's a good use of suet cages in the off-season.

(we tried leaving a suet block out this spring/summer. It didn't get any action & we ended up taking it down, the suet was getting all melty & stale-looking)

Eric, now you've got me thinking of putting something out for the birds nests. I'm going to see what I can cobble together from all the suggestions on this thread. it's probably almost time to do it isn't it?

Squirrel! HOW CUTE:) I will hang it after this freezing weather is over and update.