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Examination

Contrary to popular belief, birds rarely desert nests or abandon eggs because of disturbance. The easiest, most effective way of monitoring nest boxes is to lift up the top and look inside. Opening the boxes briefly will enable you to obtain accurate counts of eggs and nestlings for certain songbirds (i.e., bluebirds, wrens, chickadees, and titmice). It only takes a few minutes at each nest box to open the box and record the information on a data sheet.

You should:

• Check the nests every week.               
• Initially make some soft noise as you approach the box to give the female a chance to fly away.               
• Tap gently on the box before opening to warn the female of your approach.               
• Only open the box briefly to count eggs.               
• Make the final egg count after the female has begun to incubate. Songbirds do not generally incubate until the clutch is complete (i.e., until all the eggs have been laid).               
• Remove the old nest from box shortly after the young have fledged to allow the adults to reuse the box for another brood.               
• Several species, including bluebirds and house wrens, will raise more than one clutch each breeding season.               
• Clean out all nest boxes each year. Only a few bird species will nest in a box that already contains a nest.               
• Record the information on a data sheet.

You should not open the nest box if:

• The weather is cold or rainy.               
• The young are about to leave the nest.               
• The nest box contains screech owls, barred owls, kestrels, great-crested flycatchers, or other species that should not be disturbed during the nesting cycle.

By understanding the normal nesting cycle for individual species you can anticipate the activity at the box. Regular monitoring allows identification of problems if the expected activity is not observed. A bluebird nesting schedule is as follows:

WHC can provide nesting cycle information for all your managed species. 

Visit the WHC Resources for tips on monitoring. Plus here are some specific sites:

How to Monitor Nest Boxes: Birdhouse Network - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Nest Box Design Fact Sheets/Educational Tools: North American Bluebird Society

Monitor a Bluebird Nest Box Program and Bluebird Trail: Maryland Bluebird Society 

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