Citizen Science In Action: Monomoy Students Help HCT Nestbox Project

It's a mystery that might keep you up at night: what the heck is going on inside the nestboxes at the Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve?

A dedicated group of Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) volunteers knows the answer, and their citizen science efforts are providing important data to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

From early April through fledgling season, this polite-but-persistent posse knocks gently on the boxes, then takes a quick look inside to glean valuable info about what species have moved in and what they are up to.

We met up with HCT volunteers Tab Mills, Ethan Seufert and Shannon Gilbert on a recent nestbox monitoring sortie. Mills and Seufert opened the boxes, calling out their observations to Gilbert, who recorded the data as we moved along. For a bumbling reporter who had never seen anything like this, each box-opening was incredibly thrilling — here was the inside scoop on how the next generation of birds comes to be!

"It's super-rewarding to see a box with nothing in it turn into a nest, and then a nest with eggs, and then a nest with fledglings. You can see the parents feeding the young," said Seufert, a senior at Monomoy Regional High School who will be attending Bates College this fall. "Then you see the young hanging around Cold Brook, learning how to hunt."

And Mills dispelled a myth that many folks have heard about our feathered friends. "One of the old tales about birds in general is that if you touch one of the babies, the adults will abandon it, which is just false," he said.

At the Cold Brook Preserve, the nestboxes are usually used by black-capped chickadees, eastern bluebirds, house wrens, tree swallows and tufted titmice. Data categories for each box include species, number of eggs, number of young, unhatched eggs, nest material, description of young, adult bird activity and general observations.

"Cornell is compiling statistics to get a broad picture over time, and it's citizen science projects that give them the data they need to produce their results," said Mills.

These kinds of large-scale scientific efforts, designed to increase our understanding of birds, depend on people power. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology administers participatory science programs that include NestWatch, the Great Backyard Bird Count and Project FeederWatch.

"Hundreds of thousands of participants have already joined this global effort for birds and their conservation," according to Cornell.

In Harwich, intrepid HCT volunteers monitor nestboxes across five HCT conservation areas. The data is organized and submitted to Cornell by longtime HCT volunteer and veterinarian Kelly Sattman, who is also renowned for her work protecting diamondback terrapins and rescuing cold-stunned sea turtles.

HCT volunteer nestbox monitors are specially trained to carry out their scientific work, which they perform as unobtrusively as possible. Visitors to Cold Brook (and their leashed dogs) should enjoy watching the nestboxes from the trails.

At Cold Brook, another interesting dynamic is also at play for the nestbox monitors. The recent rewilding project at the Preserve added a half-mile all-persons trail, restored 44 acres of wetland and a mile of stream habitat. Now home to all kinds of wildlife and flourishing native plants, the area has become a popular hiking and nature-watching destination.

In essence, it's a new oasis for bird life, with a landscape that will mature over time as the native plants grow. The ongoing nestbox observations at Cold Brook will be a good way to figure out how and if bird residents change over time. 

"The birds are still finding it as far as breeding is concerned," said Mills. "Birds are flying over the Preserve at 2,000 feet, saying 'whoa, where did that come from? That wasn't here before.'"

While the HCT monitors often see the regular cadence of new life ticking along in the nestboxes, there can be surprises. Mills showed us a photo of five tufted titmouse eggs that had recently been in one of the nestboxes. A few days later, things had changed.

"The nest was pristine and intact, but the eggs were missing," said Mills. "There's really only one explanation for that. A black racer snake made his way up the pole, into the box, and ate the eggs." Black racers have been in decline for decades due to habitat loss, which also impacts songbird and wildlife populations worldwide.

Other nestbox issues that can arise include another species of birds taking over an occupied box and removing fledglings from the nest.

It’s all part of nature's parade, a story of survival, beauty and perseverance that plays out every day at the Cold Brook Preserve. If things go awry for birds in a nestbox, they will quickly pick up the pieces and start again. 

"Birds are not quitters," said Mills. "They are amazing creatures."