Nest box monitoring with citizen scientists

Posted by Lucy Zipf

"The bluebird had come from the distant South

To his box in the poplar tree,

And he opened wide his slender mouth,

On purpose to sing to me."

- Henry David Thoreau, April 1852

Citizen science, or public participation in scientific research, is a rapidly growing discipline in both scale and contributions to scientific research. If you have ever participated in a BioBlitz or posted to eBird, you are a citizen scientist that has likely contributed to ecological research!

Mass Audubon volunteer Richard Kent checks a nest box 

occupied by a cavity nesting bird at Broadmoor Wildlife Santuary

We have partnered with Mass Audubon, a statewide conservation organization that hosts many citizen science programs, to investigate the quality and scientific value of their volunteer-collected data.

In particular, I am investigating a nest box monitoring data set from Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, a Mass Audubon property in South Natick, MA. Volunteers at Broadmoor have monitored the timing and success of breeding in cavity nesting birds in 55 nest boxes for 30-years. 

Blue bird eggs in a Mass Audubon nest box

Box occupants include tree swallows, bluebirds, house wrens, and occasionally black capped chickadees. We are interested in determining the relationship between the volunteer observations of nest development and climate change.

Tree swallow chicks in a Mass Audubon nest box

The length of this 30-year (!!!) monitoring program will give us much more insight into the relationship between climate change and reproductive timing and success of these species than a shorter study would. We also get to work with enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers, making this project a win-win.