Can I record inactive or old nests?

NestWatch needs records of “actively used” nests, which correspond to nests that contain eggs or nestlings, or nests under active construction. We can also accept “absence data” in the form of observations of empty nest boxes, if you would like to report these.

However, older nests from previous seasons should not be reported if they were not monitored at the time they were active (e.g., if you find an old nest in fall or winter) because it would not be possible to know the details of clutch size, number of young, or dates of key events. We do encourage reporting old nests if data were collected on them at the time they were active. You can enter these directly into the website or contact us regarding our Bulk Upload option if you have >100 historic nest attempts.