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What to register?

The aim of this monitoring is to follow the nesting process of swallows and martins that nest in your home or in a nearby place that you visit very regularly. We intend to register when the birds arrive, how many eggs they lay per year, how many chicks they have, etc. With this we seek to gather data that will help researchers to better understand the life of these birds in order to produce important information for their conservation.

 

How often?

To be able to follow the main nesting moments of swallows and martins it is necessary to visit the nest very regularly, so this challenge is aimed especially at those who have nests at home.

 

In order to participate is it necessary to register all the events that the form suggests?

No! The more information we can gather the better, but just because we have lost the date of the swallows and martins' arrival, or the day they started laying, doesn't mean we will stop recording the events we are lucky enough to witness! We must also always keep in mind that the welfare of the birds must come first and in many cases it is normal that it is not possible to record, for example, the number of eggs. 

 

How to monitor a nest without harming the birds?

The goal is to monitor nests that are in our homes, so the birds are used to our presence. However, we must be very careful not to disturb them.

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With this in mind we draw attention to:

- Try to observe nests from a distance that does not make the birds nervous;

- Never touch the nests, even when the birds are away;

- If it is not possible to see how many eggs or chicks are in the nest, we wait for the chicks to develop and perch on the edge of the nest so that we can count them.

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