Category Archives: Citizen Science

Robin nest!

by Amy Posted on 4 May 2010

I was so excited to see an American Robin busy building her nest in our front shrub last month. When I was growing up, my parents always had birdhouses on our property — but I’ve never had the chance to see inside an active nest before!

I could see her flying in and out of the tree several times during the day, and I wondered about her placement choice. There’s not a lot of traffic at our front door (we often go via the garage), true. But I wondered about the bright porch light we leave on all night, which shines right into the shrub, pretty much at nest level. Early last week I taped a covering over one side of the fixture, so we still have the security of the light — but it shines much less brightly towards the nest.

I first saw her sitting more or less constantly on the nest sometime in the middle of last week. Since then we have noticed that she doesn’t fly off if we use the front door. We can see her from inside the living room, if we crouch down to peek through the foliage.

American Robin on nest
See her? She’s right in the middle. (Click to embiggen)

With my camera’s zoom I can get a little better view.

American Robin on nest
oh hai! (Click to embiggen)

Last week I registered the nest site with Cornell’s NestWatch, a citizen-driven nest-monitoring project. The site has instructions and tips for observing active nests, and participants are required to become certified (by completing an online quiz) before joining the project. There are also datasheets for the focal species, which includes the American Robin.

Yesterday afternoon I briefly checked the nest. The robin was still incubating when I came outside, and I could see her (once I crouched down).

American Robin on nest
The underside of Ms. Robin’s tail. (Click to embiggen)

Soon after I started talking and fussing with my ladder, she flushed off. Four eggs are usual, but American Robins will lay 3-5. I reached over with my camera to take this photo inside the nest.

Eggs
Eggs! (Click to embiggen)

The robin was back incubating within about 15 minutes. American Robins incubate for 12-14 days; I estimate the eggs were laid April 27-28 so there should be nestlings some time between May 9 and May 12.

I continued to follow the nest during the following weeks. For further reading: Teeny tiny baby American Robins!!! | Quick robin nest update | These birds have flown

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Posted in Citizen Science, Yard Birds | 2 Comments

Hawk Watch starts tomorrow @ IBSP

by Amy Posted on 28 August 2009

Tomorrow the 10th season of hawk watching will begin at Illinois Beach State Park. Last Saturday I attended a very informative Hawk Watching Seminar at Volo Bog State Natural Area. During the first part of the seminar, IBSP Hawk Watch founder Vic Berardi shared a great presentation on identifying hawks in flight. I took several pages of notes but clearly the best way to improve hawk ID skills will be to sit with the team, watching, which I hope to do some time before the Hawk Watch finishes at the end of November.

In the afternoon Vic shared some (more) of his wonderful photography and gave us attendees lots of great tips on taking pictures of raptors in flight. Vic has a new blog, The Raptorphile, as well as a super photography tips website along with his son at Photo Naturalist. You should check them out!

Later, other founding members of the IBSP team, Janice Sweet and Paul Sweet, shared data and analysis of the data the team has gathered over the last 9 years, like season records and trends in age data and period of migration for the different species. For instance, most of the Bald Eagles observed at the IBSP Hawk Watch are juveniles. Adult birds tend to congregate around the Mississippi River, but the local juvies don’t know that yet.

Do you volunteer at a hawk watch in your area, or have you ever visited one?

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Posted in Citizen Science, Hawk Watch | Leave a comment

Cornell’s CamClickr (beware!)

by Amy Posted on 27 June 2009

Yesterday Cornell’s nestcams Twitter account posted a link to the CamClickr, a project where citizen scientists can help to tag millions of archived nestcam images. I spent way too much time clicking nestcam images yesterday afternoon!

Three Hungry Chicks - May 23rd, 2011
Three Hungry Chicks – May 23rd, 2011 by Ecstatic Mark, Creative Commons on Flickr

The site has a tutorial video that clearly explains everything — the basic concept is that users identify and tag images taken from nestcams. Each session is divided into two parts and the whole experience is set up somewhat like a game. In Level 1 you identify 99 images based on the number of eggs, nestlings or adult birds you see. In Level 2 you tag each image based on the behavior seen. Along the way there are opportunities for you to learn more about the species you are working with. When I was tagging Carolina Chickadee nest images, I found one photo that had two adults in it (jackpot!). I wasn’t familiar with two of the behavior types listed, so I clicked on the glossary to learn more:

Allofeeding: A behavioral event where one adult bird feeds another adult of the same species.

Allopreening: A behavioral event where one bird grooms another ibrd of the same species . Also known as allogrooming.

Helping scientists study birds and learning new stuff?! Cool!

Some of the photos are really hard to figure out, but I kinda think that’s part of the fun. The photos from the nestcams seem to be in sequence so if you can figure out what’s going on in one, it helps when looking at adjacent images. Right now the cam images are of nests at the nestling stage, which means lots of photos of little chick blobs and a parent feeding them. Go check it out – when you have some time to kill! CamClickr

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North American Bird Phenology Program

by Amy Posted on 28 February 2009

Do you know about the BPP (Bird Phenology Program)? They currently have a huge initiative to transcribe millions of records about bird migration. The processing of these records is a citizen science project run by the USGS in which anyone with access to a computer can participate.

The North American Bird Phenology Program houses a unique and largely forgotten collection of six million Migration Observer Cards that illuminate migration patterns and population status of birds in North America. These handwritten cards contain almost all of what was known of bird status from the Second World War back to the later part of the 19th century. The bulk of the records are the result of a network of observers who recorded migration arrival dates in the spring and fall that, in its heyday, involved 3000 participants.

Those handwritten cards are being transcribed into an online database by citizen scientist volunteers like you and me! You can become a participant and transcribe scanned cards into online records. If you live in the Baltimore-Washington area, you can also help with scanning the original records. Check out the BPP Website for more information.

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Posted in Citizen Science, North America | Leave a comment

PBOT

by Amy Posted on 20 February 2009

The Painted Bunting Observer Team, or PBOT, is a group of citizen scientists in Florida and the Carolinas who provide data which helps develop strategies to sustain the Bunting’s population. PBOT is a project from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and they need volunteers to join the team. If you’re in the Carolinas or Florida and want to know more, read all about the project and then become a member!

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) by dominic sherony, Creative Commons on Flickr

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Georgia calls on citizen scientists to help with bird tick study

by Amy Posted on 12 February 2009

From The Daily Citizen:

Have you seen a bird with a fat tick stuck to its face? If so, the University of Georgia would like to know about it. In fact, you can participate in a research project by donating the ticks to UGA. […]

Interestingly, if the ticks are removed before the bird develops breathing problems, all these effects will quickly be reversed and the bird will recover and be fine.

If you want to attempt to rescue the bird, recommendations are that you wrap the animal in a towel to keep it from struggling. Pick the ticks off, examining under the feathers carefully to be sure all have been removed. Avian rehabilitators suggest then placing the animal in a large paper bag or box for a few hours to allow it to recover before it is released in the wild, where it might be at a disadvantage if it encountered predators before regaining flight ability.

Full article here.

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Posted in Aside, Citizen Science, North America | 1 Comment

UK Birds Abandon Gardens For Country

by Amy Posted on 31 March 2007

Results from the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Big Garden Birdwatch revealed a decline in back yard birds across the island nation. Resident and migrant birds have abandoned residential gardens for wilder areas.

The RSPB believes the mild winter across Europe resulted in fewer birds migrating to the UK and more birds feeding in the countryside.

The House Sparrow was the top back yard bird with just under 4.5 per garden.

Read more about the Big Garden Birdwatch.

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Posted in Aside, Citizen Science, Europe, Yard Birds | Leave a comment

New Dutch Bird Survey

by Amy Posted on 28 February 2007

Because of a lack of information on city birds in the Netherlands, bird survey organization SOVON plans to conduct a study on the birds that live in urban areas. The survey, known as MUS (Dutch word for Sparrow) will begin in spring 2007.

The Dutch partner of BirdLife International, Vogelbescherming, will conduct the survey in partnership with SOVON.

The groups plan to focus their study on sparrows and swallows, two types of birds that live primarily in urban environments.

Everyone is invited to participate. There will be three survey periods over the year. The first period will be between 1 and 30 April, with volunteers requested to count birds in the morning hours. The second survey period is 15 May until 15 June, again in the morning hours. During the third survey period, 15 June to 15 July, volunteers are asked to count birds in the evening.

Information on joining the survey, which is done without any paperwork (entirely online), can be found at www.sovon.nl (in Dutch).

Source: Een nieuw telproject voor stadsvogels: MUS

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Posted in Citizen Science, Netherlands | Leave a comment