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Finding and
Monitoring Nests
Code of Conduct
Instructions
Instructions for
data entry
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Instructions
A.
Information about the field sheet
Before you go out and start looking for nests, we suggest that you print a copy of the
NestWatch Field Sheet (PDF format). This sheet will allow you to collect the information while you are in the field and should make your life easier when you are ready to enter your data online.
Please note that the field sheet is for your own use only and that we ask you not to send it to us.
The first page of the field sheet contains the general information about the nest (location, species, etc.) and allows you to enter the details about each individual visit to the nest. It also holds the Outcome categories to describe the final status of the nest (was it successful or not, and based on what criteria).
The second page is designed to enter a description of the habitat where the nest is located (e.g., in a woodland or in human sites like backyards) and a description of the nest site
per se (e.g., whether the nest was hidden or exposed, in a tree or under a bridge, etc.).
Before you start submitting your data online, we suggest you have a look at the
instructions for data entry. Note that you can start entering data about a nest after the first visit even if it is still active. You will be able to go back to the online
data entry page later and add or modify the information you have already submitted. Remember to report every active nest; we need information on failures just as much as successes!
Click here to read an example from a fictive nestwatch participant. |
B. What information should you collect?
The most important information to report about a nest is 1)
the identity of the species, 2) the nest location and 3)
the date and the contents of the nest (number of eggs and young) at each visit you make. These 3 items are the minimum
for useful analysis, but this is not the only information we are interested
in receiving!
These detailed sections follow the order used on the field sheet:
- Bird species name: please ensure that you identify the parents carefully, with the help of an identification guide or a local expert. If you are a beginner, try to concentrate on common species that are easy to identify, such as American Robin and Tree Swallow. Please only report nests for which you are certain of the identity of the species.
- Nest location: This is
a very important information so, whenever possible, try to give the exact coordinates, either in UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) or latitude/longitude (degrees, minutes, seconds). If you have a GPS (Global Positioning System), this is the most precise way to tell us about the location of the nest (please make sure that you use the NAD83 datum; see your GPS manual to set this option). If you have access to a topographic map of your area, you can also calculate your UTM coordinates. If you don't have access to either method, you can find your approximate location using either our online mapping tool available on the
data entry page, or simply provide the postal code of the area where the nest was located (not necessarily your home one!)
- Nest label: This
space is for you: you can give a number or a name to the nest
you are monitoring. This section will be useful for
people following more than one nest.
- Visit information: For each visit you make to the nest, always write down the date and time, as well as the number of eggs or young present. If you cannot determine the number of eggs or young on some of the visits (e.g., an adult was sitting on the
nest). Do not guess the number and simply mark down a question mark (?).
As some bird species lay eggs in nests of other species, you have space to enter information for the host and the parasite species separately. The
host is the primary species occupying the nest (e.g., American Robin), meaning it is the one incubating the eggs and providing parental care. On the other hand, the
parasite is the species that laid its eggs in the host's nest; it does not incubate eggs and does not provide parental care. The most common parasite species is the Brown-headed Cowbird and it has been found to lay its eggs in nests of more than 200 bird species! The American Robin is not one of their favourite hosts. If the nest you monitored contained
one or more eggs or young of a parasite species, write down the
name of the parasite species in the Comments section, when known.
There is a space to enter the number of eggs or young of any
parasite species. To find out more about the breeding ecology of Cowbirds and see some pictures of their eggs, see our
Cowbird Fact Sheet.
Use the Visit Status Codes provided on the first page of the field sheet to describe the stage of development of the nest, eggs and young, as well as the observed activities of the parent birds for each visit. Recording the state of growth of the young can be very valuable for estimating laying dates and/or the hatching date, especially if the nest was found at the nestling stage. For example, young Robins hatch blind and mostly naked; they usually open their eyes at the age of 5 days. We also ask you record the activity of adult birds at or near the nest to help determine the stage of the nest, particularly when the contents cannot be seen (as in the case of a species nesting high in a tree). For example, an adult sitting tight on the nest implies that the nest contains eggs and/or small young; adults regularly going to/from the nest with food implies that young are present. See the
Glossary of the terms and categories used further down this page for more explanations.
- Comments: You can use this space
to provide any additional comments you may have about the nest. Please note that these comments may not be read
by us immediately. If you have a pressing question, please
contact us directly.
- Nest outcome: This section is very important but should only be completed after the nesting attempt is finished. A nest is considered successful if at least one young fledges. You should indicate with the Outcome Codes the best evidence you have that at least one young left the nest successfully, even if you are not sure they all made it. You can use two codes, if needed. If you indicate a failure, please enter the code corresponding to the stage where it occurred (E= egg, J= young, X= egg or young). Please note that if the parents start a new clutch after a failed nesting attempt, you must start another sheet (therefore a new nest record) and write down this detail in the Comments section.
If you did not visit the nest until the end, or if you find an empty nest and cannot assess whether the attempt was successful or not, you should indicate that the outcome was
Unknown. You may also sometimes have evidence that some young fledged but others definitely did not (e.g., if some were dead in the nest). In this case you should
indicate both a success and a failure code. If the nest also contained a
Brown-headed Cowbird (a species which lay its eggs in other bird's nest), use the Comments section to indicate which fledged. See the
Glossary of the terms and categories used further down this page for more explanations.
- Habitat: The habitat is the area in which the bird is nesting and foraging. As a general guideline, you should only consider habitats within a maximum of about 100m of the nest. Each habitat is described by a
class (e.g., woodland, human sites, etc.) and a sub-class (e.g., deciduous, coniferous or mixed woodland); the categories are all provided for you on the second page of the field sheet. If no sub-class applies, simply write down zero (0) for
Undefined. Note that for nests found in a city, as will mostly be the case for American
Robins, the class will be D. Human Sites.
Example. If you find a Robin nesting in one of the cedars behind your house, you would indicate: Class:
D. Human sites and Sub-Class: 1. Urban. In the Comments section, you can write that the tree supporting the nest was a cedar.
- Nest Description: This can provide useful information about the nest you monitored.
For the nest site
selection, choose one category only for each of IN, ON and UNDER. For example, if the nest was
in a live tree, you would write A (live tree) in the box IN, and leave the other
boxes blank. In some cases, you may need to use 2 or all 3 elements (e.g., nest located IN
a hedgerow and UNDER a live tree). Mark any checkboxes that apply to the nest site itself.
Also indicate the nest site type (unenclosed, ledge, nest box, etc.) and other relevant details about the nest.
Unenclosed refers to any nest that is not enclosed within a cavity or nest box. For example, a Robin nest in the branch of a live tree falls into the category
Unenclosed. If the bird uses another bird or mammal's nest, please give details of the species, if known,
in the Comments section. If you are not sure what to indicate in a section, you can simply decide to leave it blank. See the
Glossary of the terms and categories used further down this page for more explanations.
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C. Glossary of the terms and categories used
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Visit status codes:
Adults building the nest:
Use these codes if you find a nest under construction,
that is the adult is building the nest but it does not yet have eggs.
Eggs in the nest:
- Eggs cold or
warm. Warm eggs will indicate that an adult was recently incubating and cold eggs may be a clue that incubation has not started yet. Many birds, especially songbirds, will lay all of their eggs before starting to incubate. This allows all eggs from
the same clutch to hatch at about the same time. If the eggs can be easily reached (do not take risks that might damage them), very carefully feel them to see if they are cold or warm. This will tell us whether or not the adult was recently sitting.
- Eggs covered. Some species like ducks and geese cover their eggs with nest material (e.g., vegetation, down) while they are away from the nest. Use this code if the eggs are covered.
- Hatching egg. An egg is hatching when its shell is cracked but the young is not yet out of it. This process usually
lasts only a few hours. See picture below.
- Pipping / calling from
egg. An egg is considered "pipped" when the chick has just started to break the shell; cracks at one end are visible or a little hole in the shell enables the observer to see the beak. Moreover, some chicks call from within the egg for 1 to 2 days before hatching; these calls can easily be heard.
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Pipped Eggs (photo: Catherine Poussart) |
Hatching egg (photo: Catherine Poussart) |
Young in the nest:
- Naked young vs.
downy. Most songbirds hatch without any feathers and will gradually grow a down layer.
Precocial young, those that leave the nest almost right after hatching (ex.
ducks, Killdeer), they emerge from the egg with full down
cover.
- Blind vs. eyes open. Young birds of nidicolous
species (those with young that hatch naked, blind and helpless), including all songbirds, need a few days before they can open their eyes.
- Ready to fledge or
Left naturally before fledging. When the nestlings are well feathered and look ready to leave the nest (whether they can fly or not), or if they leave the nest on their own before being able to fly, please do not disturb them and record this information (RF, LB).
- Audible young in
nest. Use this code when food-begging or hunger calls of the young are heard in the nest, but you are unable to see into the nest.
Adult activity:
Use the codes that best describe the activity of the adults. The status
In vicinity should only be used if the adult(s) is (are) visibly anxious (e.g., giving alarm calls) or carrying food in the vicinity of the nest before the young have fledged. If the nest is empty and the young have fledged already, write down 0 under Number of young at nest for your last visit and complete the Nest Outcome section with an appropriate code to indicate the probable success or failure of the nest (see below). |
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Outcome codes:
Nest outcome:
success. Use success codes if at least one young successfully left the nest. For nidicolous species (those with young that hatch naked, blind and helpless, such as typical songbird nestlings,
including Robins) this usually means the young can fly, although not necessarily very well. The young of nidifigous species, such as ducks, shorebirds and gamebirds, hatch covered with down and are able to leave the nest quickly. For this group, you may use the code
NN (Fledged young seen near nest) if the young were seen near the nest, even if they cannot yet fly.
- All of these codes indicate (or suggest in some cases) that the young successfully left the nest:
Young capable of leaving nest on previous visit, Young seen leaving (fledging) naturally, Fledged young seen near nest, Adult carrying food near nest, Adult visibly agitated or giving alarm calls near
nest.
- Some young fledged, other live young still in
nest. In this case, the count of young should include only young still in the nest.
- Nest empty, undisturbed and containing feather scales and/or
droppings. This means that the brood has left the nest. You can also use this code in cases of partial success, for example when a dead chick or egg is found trampled at the bottom of a nest but that you know the rest of the brood has fledged.
- Young "exploded" from nest when
inspected. Older nestlings may "explode" (i.e. they leave in all directions) from or leave their nest in direct response to being approached by a nest recorder. If this happens, we recommend you leave the area immediately
so that the parent will come back quickly.
- Hatched shell fragments in empty nest.
This code only applies to nidifigous species (e.g., gamebirds, ducks, etc.) because for nidicolous species such as the Robin, adults carry eggshells away from nest or eat them; shells found at the bottom of their nest would then come from predated eggs.
Nest outcome:
failure. Multiple codes can be used, if necessary, to indicate the fate of various eggs or young, or the apparent cause of the failure. If more than two codes are possible, select the most appropriate. Additional codes can be added under the Comments section.
- The fate of eggs or young can be identify with one of these codes:
Eggs not hatched, Injured/broken, Killed/thrown out by Brown-headed Cowbird (rare with Robins),
Deserted/starved/dead, Empty undamaged
nest.
- Possible causes of failure include:
Flooded nest (rare with Robins), Human causes - intentional or unintentional,
Empty damaged nest, Livestock, Other/unknown, Predation, Thrown/fallen out, Usurped from nest by other bird species (rare with Robins),
Wind damage.
Nest outcome:
unknown. Use this code if you were unable to follow the nest to fledging, or if your last visit was so long after the expected fledging date that you can no longer tell what happened. Remember, even if you are not sure of the outcome your data are still valuable to us, especially if you visited the nest more than once! |
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Nest site description:
Exposure. This information is to provide an idea of how well you think the nest is hidden from predators. It is
a rather subjective measure, but it is unlikely that one person's
Well Hidden will be another's Exposed. This section can be used to look at relations between degree of exposure and predation rates and seasonality of predation.
Slope. Indicate if the ground close to the nest you monitored, or the ground supporting the nest structure (e.g., a tree) was flat or sloped or vertical (i.e., a cliff).
Direction of slope (aspect) and
Direction of nest hole. If you reported that the ground was sloped, indicate the direction in which the slope was facing. Similarly, if the nest was in a natural cavity or a nest box, indicate the direction the entrance is facing.
Nest height above ground /
water. Please record nest height to the nearest 0.1m if below one metre, and as accurately as possible if above one metre. Please give figures to one decimal place. If the nest is on the ground on a sloping bank or in a ditch, then give the height as 0m (zero). In cases where the nest is in a bush in a ditch, give the height to the base of the bush and not to the bottom of the ditch. If the nest is that of a ground nesting species, please always write a zero rather than leaving a blank space. |
D.
A few things you should also know:
-
each nest attempt
counts for one record.
-
if the nest was used
twice in the same season by the same pair of birds, consider
them as two separate attempts. For the second attempt, you can
add in the Comments section that the nest was also used
previously in the same nesting season.
-
if you are unsure of
the identification of the bird species you have monitored,
please do not report any information.
-
if you have made
unusual observations, please make a special note in the Comments
section to emphasize that the entries are correct (for instance
when you have recorded an abnormally long incubation period, or
a very early laying date). This way, we will know these were not
recorded in error. Such unusual contributions can then be
incorporated into the Annual Report, and possibly into journal
notes and papers.
-
if you find a nest of a
poorly known species, a species outside its normal range, or the
first record for a species in a particular region, good
photographic evidence of the nest, adult, or both is encouraged!
If you are unsure of the importance of a record, contact the Project NestWatch coordinator,
preferably while the nest is still active.
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Thank you very much for your time in the field and for
using these codes.Your data are important to us!
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