Blog

A new study of nest box design suggests that bluebird enthusiasts should choose round entrance holes over “slot-style” nest boxes. Find out why this design decision made a difference to Mountain Bluebirds in British Columbia.

When a husband-and-wife team in the real estate business set out to build a Barred Owl nest box, they hoped their listing would please the local owls that were heard calling around their new property. In time, it did, but they had to put in some sweat equity to make it happen. Read our new blog post about their journey and the lessons learned. This box will be the envy of the neighborhood!

Researchers examined long-term demographic data from NestWatch to understand the degree to which certain species and populations might be correlated in their reproductive success. They used 21 years of NestWatch data and found little synchronization between Eastern Bluebirds and Carolina Chickadees, a result that might indicate these populations are resilient to environmental challenges.

Our Nest Quest Go! project is bringing the Lab’s historic nest record cards out of the filing cabinet and into the digital era. While digitizing bird nesting data is our primary goal, we also want to highlight the stories of remarkable people like Daniel Smiley, a fellow birder, naturalist, and prolific citizen scientist.

Our Nest Quest Go! project is bringing the Lab’s historic nest record cards out of the filing cabinet and into the digital era. While digitizing bird nesting data is our primary goal, we also want to highlight the stories of remarkable people like Larry Walkinshaw, a fellow birder, conservationist, and prolific citizen scientist.

Our Nest Quest Go! project is bringing the Lab’s historic nest record cards out of the filing cabinet and into the digital era. While digitizing bird nesting data is our primary goal, we also want to highlight the stories of remarkable people like Vivian Pitzrick, a fellow birder, trailblazer, and prolific citizen scientist.

Researchers from the University of California, Davis recently investigated how heat waves impact the nesting success of numerous generalist bird species. They found that forests buffered nesting birds from the effects of extreme heat, whereas nests in open agricultural landscapes suffered a decline in survival. They offer tips for helping birds cope with climate change.

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.

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.