Before
You Start
Looking for Nests
Instructions for
data entry
Instructions for data entry
1. Registering to Project NestWatch
Before you can enter your nest record on the web site, you must register to create a new login name and password that will allow you to see and modify your own data each time you log in. If you do not have a login name, simply click on the Register button on the login page to create one.
On the registration page, you must provide your name in full, a login name and a password of your choice, your address, and if possible an email address. Be assured that we respect your privacy and that we will not transmit your address to third parties without your written consent. Your address will allow us to determine whether you are already listed as a participant in another program coordinated by Bird Studies Canada (including for example Project FeederWatch, Christmas Bird Count, the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey, Birdathon, and in some regions, the Nocturnal Owl Survey, the Coastal Waterbird Survey, the Marsh Bird Monitoring Program and the Breeding Bird Survey). If you are already participating in some of these programs and have received a participant number, please enter it in the space provided at the bottom of the form. We may also need to contact you in case we have any questions about your records.
If you want your computer to remember your login name and password, simply check the box on the registration form.
Be sure to enter all the fields that are marked in red. Once the form is complete, press the Register button. If your registration is successful, you will automatically return to the login page. If they do not already appear on the page, enter your login name and password and click Login for data entry.
If you are a participant to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas or in the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey, you do not need to register again for Project NestWatch data entry. Simply go to the login page and use your participant number as your login name, and the password that has been provided to you or that you currently use for the data entry page of these projects.
2. Login for data entry
If your login name and password are stored in a cookie, they should appear as soon as you see the login page. If not, enter the login name and password you provided during registration.
If you provided an email address during registration, you can ask to receive a reminder by entering your login name or your email address and clicking Email me reminder. The reminder will normally be sent to you immediately and should arrive in your mailbox within a few minutes. If you have any problem accessing the data entry page, please contact us.
If you see an error message on the login page, you may need to change the settings of your browser to accept cookies and enable JavaScript, as the data entry site uses both of these. Please read and follow the instructions provided with the error or read the Frequently Asked Questions about Data Entry to find out how you can set up your computer.
3. Entering data
A few points you should remember about the data entry page:
- If you spend more than 30 minutes on the same page without saving it, your session will time out and you will be forced to log in again, loosing any unsaved information. To ensure that this does not happen, please click the 'save changes' button at least every 20-25 minutes, or before you leave the page unattended.
- If you need explanation for some of the information or codes you must provide, click on the Help button. Some fields can be left blank, but others are required before you can save your form (you will see a popup window explaining which fields are missing).
- Your changes are automatically saved in the database each time you move between pages using one of the buttons available on the data entry page (e.g., Next page, Previous page, Français, Profile, Finish, or one of the page tabs).
Step 1 - Create a new nest record or select an existing form to modify
Before you can enter data for a nest, you must either create a form, or select an existing form to modify. Each nest must have its own form. To create a new form, go under "Start a new form", select the species and the province where you found your nest from the drop down lists and click on Start new form. This will automatically move you to the next page.
Existing forms that you created earlier will be available from the drop-down list under "Select an existing nest form to edit". Only forms from the same year will be displayed (the current year by default). If you have forms from another year, simply select the year from the drop-down list on the right hand-side and your forms should appear once the page has been reloaded. Once you selected an existing form, you will automatically move to the next page.
Step 2 - Enter the nest location
On this page, you need to provide the year and some information about the location of your nest. If you wish to assign a label or a number to your nest, you can use the Nest label field. This is especially useful if you have several nests for the same species (the label will appear on the drop-down list on the first page to help you identify your nests). Use any name or number of your choice.
Please provide a short description of the area where you found the nest (for example, South Walsingham 4th Concession, 1.5 km east of highway 59). You also need to provide one of the following pieces of information before you can continue: the postal code of the area where the nest is located OR the geographic coordinates using the UTM or the degrees latitude/longitude format. We provide links to online tools that will help you find where the nest is, but you can also use a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit if you have one (be sure to use the NAD83 projection) or find your coordinates from a detailed map of the area (read the Frequently asked questions to find out how to get coordinates from a map). If you are searching for a postal code, click on "Find postal code here" and enter at least the name of the municipality and select the province, and note down the postal code. If you want to use the online mapping tool, click on "Find coordinates here" and follow the instructions. You can zoom in closer to your area, click on the point where your nest was located and transfer the coordinates automatically to the data entry page. Note however that the online map is not very precise, and that we would prefer that you use other methods when possible. Finally, also indicate whether you obtained your coordinates from a GPS, a paper map or from an online tool. Once you have completed step 2, click on Next page.
Step 3 - Enter visit information and status
This is the page where you need to provide information about individual visits. The visit information page has 8 rows available when you start a new form. If you need to enter more visits, simply save the page to obtain more rows. If you wish to delete a visit, simply clear the date fields (day and month) and save the form.
Note that you can enter your visit status or outcome codes by clicking on the radio button located to the right of the status column for each visit, or next to outcome boxes.
Visit Date and Time: Enter the day, month and time on which you observed the nest. Please use the 24 hour clock, such as 22:00 rather than 8:00 pm. If you did not record a time, leave this field blank. As a data check, if you enter a value outside those allowed (for example you enter June 35th as the date instead of June 25th) you will receive an error message telling you that the value is outside the allowable range. This is to help prevent typos. Simply reenter the correct value. Note that you must provide a complete valid date in order to save the form.
Host, Parasite: Enter the number of eggs, live young and/or dead young in the boxes provided. You will usually need to enter these values under the host column, unless you found eggs laid by another species (usually the Brown-headed Cowbird). Remember that most nests will not have a parasite egg or young in it. If the number of eggs or young is unknown during a visit, put a question mark '?' in the space provided instead of a number.
Visit Status Codes: If you know the status codes, you can type them in directly on that page. Otherwise, click on the round button to the right of the visit status code column to select from a list of valid codes. The codes will appear with a checkbox beside them. Simply check which codes you would like to enter and close the Nest Code window by pressing the grey "Close window" button. The codes that you checked will automatically be inserted into the Status code boxes provided.
Comments: If you have any additional comments about the behaviour of the parents or the young, or the condition of the nest on this visit, please enter them here. You can enter up to 255 characters.
Nest outcome: You can choose up to 2 codes describing the final status of the nest. Use the radio button next to the boxes to view and select the nest outcome.
Parasite Species: If the nest was parasitized by another bird species such as the Brown-headed Cowbird, indicate the name of the species if you know it. If the species is not listed, please enter the name on the comments page (step 5).
Life History Information: Below the "Visit Information and Status" section, we have provided you with some life history information for the species you monitored. These values should be used as guidelines for what is considered a normal clutch size, or incubation or fledging period. Your data should fall within the range provided, or close to these given values. If not, you should provide additional information on the Comments page.
Step 4 - Describe the nest site and the habitat
Please fill in the description of the nest site using the drop down boxes that are provided. If the criterion does not apply to the nest you monitored, simply leave the box with the blank space selected. This is the first choice in the drop down list of options.
Nest site: Indicate the physical location of the nest using the IN/ON/UNDER drop down boxes. For example, if your nest was IN a live tree, simply select live tree from the IN box. Or if your nest was ON a building, select building from the ON column. Note that you can choose from more than one box. For example, the nest was IN a bush and UNDER a live tree.
Nest site type, other details, and exposure: select the categories that best describe the type of nest, the exposure or any other particularities.
Slope and direction: indicate whether the ground supporting the nest was sloped or not. If the nest is located in a structure such as a tree, indicate whether the ground supporting the structure was sloped. The direction of the slope, if applicable is defined by the direction you are facing when walking towards the bottom of the slope. If your nest was in a cavity, also indicate the direction of the nest hole.
Habitat: Enter habitat information using the drop down lists. When you select a habitat class, you will be presented with additional choices for the habitat subclass. For example, if you select Woodland, you will see the sub-classes: deciduous, coniferous and mixed. If you are not sure which sub-class applies, simply leave it to the default choice, undefined.
Step 5 - Enter any additional comments
Please provide any additional comments you consider relevant in the boxes provided (e.g., plant / tree species supporting the nest). You do not need to repeat information that is already coded on the other pages. Please note that these comments will not be read immediately. If you have any question that requires an immediate answer, please contact us directly.
To finish your form, click the "Save Changes" button, start a new form, or simply click Finish, which will take you out of the data entry page.
We thank you very much for your valuable data!
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