Observations

My Nest Check Data Sheet

Before beginning, all participants are required to become “certified nest watchers." Participants must read and understand the NestWatch Code of Conduct and pass a 5-minute quiz before they can start recording observations. The NestWatch Code of Conduct educates participants on the proper way to make observations to ensure the well being of birds, prevent accidental harm to the nest, prevent parents from deserting the nest, and avoid attracting predators to the nest. It also reminds observers that under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, it is illegal to take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, or barter any native bird or its parts, its nest, or its eggs unless a valid permit is issued (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2019). A few important things I personally learned were to keep nest visits to one minute, avoid checking the nest in the early morning when most parents are incubating the eggs, avoid checking the nest during the first few days of incubation, do not approach the nest when the chicks are close to fledging so they do not leave the nest prematurely, leave the nest alone during bad weather, and do not check the nest after dusk when the birds will have returned to the nest for the evening.

After passing the certification test, you are ready to begin! Participants can then create a NestWatch account and either begin looking for a nest, or start making observations on a nest that has already been identified. 

I observed a house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) nest from June 30–July 21, and made a total of eight observations. When I discovered the nest, the parents had already laid four eggs. It was fascinating to observe this nest from the egg stage all the way to the fledging stage. Because of the location of the nest, I was able to take pictures of all the stages of development and include this in my Nest Check Data Sheet. Below, you can see those images. 

June 30 - clutch of four eggs

July 6 - naked young

July 9 - naked young

July 12 - partially feathered young

July 15 - partially feathered young

July 18 - fully feathered young

July 21 - empty nest after hatchlings fledged

Although four eggs were laid, only two chicks hatched. Immediately after hatching, I could see one egg remaining in the nest. But once the chicks grew a bit larger, this egg also disappeared. I am curious as to what happened to these two unhatched eggs. Did one chick perhaps hatch but then fall from the nest? Where the unhatched eggs pushed from the nest to make room for the live chicks? Although I checked the ground below the nest, I found no sign of them. 

Because I did not see the eggs being laid or hatching, the datasheet helped me to calculate the first egg date and hatch date based on the standard incubation and brooding period. For house finches, the average incubation period lasts 13 days, and brooding occurs for about 15 days. With this data, I was able to estimate that the eggs were likely laid on June 22 and hatched around July 5. (I wonder if perhaps the eggs hatched on July 4 and the excessive amount of fireworks in the neighborhood scared the chicks and caused one to fall.) 

As observations are only made every 3-4 days, I was worried that I might not be able to see the chicks fledge and simply find an empty nest on my last day of observations. However, I was quite lucky that on July 21 when I walked out onto the deck to check the nest, the chicks successfully flew from the nest into a nearby tree. Hoping to get one last picture of them, I returned to the nest the following day to see if they had come back, but they had not. Instead, I saw them with their parents chirping away from the top of a nearby tree. I had grown attached to them and although I was happy to see them healthy and fledged, it was hard to see them go!

This project was easy and fun to participate in. Because it is encouraged to keep nest visits to one minute, and they only occur every 3-4 days, the project is not time-consuming. I genuinely enjoyed observing the nest and watching the hatchlings mature, and I think the accountability of the project made me more engaged with the nest. For this reason, I would like to continue with this project next spring when the breeding season starts up again. Ideally, I would like to find nests for several different species so I can compare my observations between them.

Sources:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (2019). Nest Monitoring Manual. Retrieved July 25, 2020, from https://nestwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/NestWatch_manual_20191106.pdf