About Neighborhood Nestwatch

Habitat degradation in high-density population centers will continue to be a widespread threat to wildlife. At the same time people living in these areas risk further detachment from the natural systems on which they depend. Neighborhood Nestwatch represents an innovative way to study the effects of rapid development on wildlife while educating citizens about these effects and the process of science.  Each backyard involved in the program becomes both a research site and an outdoor classroom.
History
Nestwatch began as a pilot project in the Washington, DC area in the year 2000 with 45 backyard participants. After many years of expansion in the DC area, the program today  averages between 50-85 participants annually in several regions. Realizing a long-awaited goal, Nestwatch began regional expansion in 2012 when the program was introduced to Springfield, MA and Gainesville, FL. Later, Pittsburgh, PA and Atlanta, GA were added in 2013 and 2014 respectively. In 2017, the program added Denver, CO, the first region west of the Mississippi River. Many thanks to all of the willing and very capable partners and backyard participants for getting involved! Not only will the program continue to excite and educate local property owners about urban ecology but essential data on birds living in Nestwatch hubs will continue to be collected.
Future plans for Nestwatch include more regional expansion, a yard certification program, and studies aimed at understanding the impacts of non-native plants on birds.   All of these activities, however, require financial support and fundraising will always be necessary  to keep Nestwatch going for many years to come.

Research Framework
Nestwatch primarily focuses on two basic life history traits: annual survival and reproductive success. Participant data from resightings of color banded birds reflects how long birds live within their yard and nearby surroundings. Likewise, when nests are monitored we learn about the ability of birds to reproduce within a complex land use gradient.  When participants submit their data we can make important comparisons regarding annual survival and nest success for individual species across a range of environmental disturbance.  

More and more data gives rise to a powerful database capable of answering a host of pertinent ecological questions ranging from the impacts of West Nile virus to the annual survival of catbirds. Furthermore, because of regional expansion Nestwatch will be able to ask these questions at regional scales within a species' range.  

To date, many scientific articles based on Nestwatch research have been published, all reporting important discoveries in urban ecology and conservation. Nestwatch has also studied  participants themselves and documented greater change to participant attitudes toward birds and the environment after being involved in Nestwatch compared to other citizen science programs.