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NestWatch Blog Posts

  • A male House Sparrow looks out of his nest box.
    How Are People Managing Invasive Birds At Nest Boxes?

    A new study from NestWatch investigated how many people had experience with non-native birds in their nest boxes. The study explored peoples’ knowledge of House Sparrows and European Starlings, and their attitudes towards managing them, especially if people encountered these non-native birds in their monitored nest boxes.

  • Gulls Just Wanna Have Data

    For seven years, Cornell University students diligently collected nesting data on two species of gulls in Maine. Recently this large data set has come home to roost in our NestWatch database via a generous bulk-upload contribution from Dr. David Bonter.

  • a grassy nest in a wooden box with three blue eggs inside
    How Does Drought Affect Eastern Bluebirds?

    Climate models are predicting drier conditions and more persistent droughts in North America. Thanks to contributions from NestWatchers, scientists were recently able to conduct the first range-wide analysis on the effects of drought on Eastern Bluebird breeding success.

  • Monitoring Birds of Prey in New York City

    In New York City, citizen scientists help urban hawks by contributing nest observations to the raptor nest monitoring project administered by NYC Parks’ Wildlife Unit. By contributing to NestWatch, these volunteers are helping to reduce secondary poisoning of birds of prey.

  • illustration of a bluebird that is not allowing a chickadee to nest in a paired box with a large entrance hole juxtaposed against another illustration where the bluebird is not competing for the second nest box, this time with a smaller entrance hole.
    A Tale of Two Boxes: When Pairing Doesn’t Promote Peace

    Can pairing nest boxes to reduce competition have a downside? Researchers at Davidson College say yes, and that if you’d like to help out the smaller bird species in your area, it’s all about entrance hole size.

  • Barn Swallow nestlings in nest
    The Life and Times of Mites

    If you monitor bird nests, you’re probably pretty familiar with mites. Join us as we explore the different kinds of mites that inhabit birds and their nests, and discover how birds have evolved to fight back.

  • NestWatcher Finds Rare Albino Nestling

    A NestWatcher discovers an albino Tree Swallow in a Massachusetts nest box. Fewer than one-half of a percent of all birds have this genetic condition.

  • two featherless Northern Flicker nestlings lying on wood chips inside a nest box
    What’s All The Buzzing About?

    Do Northern Flickers have a “hive mind” mentality? Or is their acoustic resemblance to a swarm of bees simply coincidence? Listen in, and decide for yourself!

  • three photos side-by-side of items that were mistaken for nests, including a wild cucumber seed pod, a Polyphemus cocoon, and a wasp nest.
    The Nests That Weren’t

    We love to play “Guess whose nest?” and answer your burning nest questions. Sometimes, however, this takes a detour into non-avian species. Here are our top five participant finds.