H
NESTS AND COLONIES REGISTRATION
Monitoring the populations of different bird species is fundamental to assess their conservation status and taking effective and timely measures for their preservation. In recent years, citizen science projects have become increasingly common and important for monitoring bird populations, both because of the volume and quality of the data collected.
Swallows and swifts, as they nest in buildings, are perfect species to be monitored by the public. Furthermore, monitoring these birds does not involve high travel costs, requires little time from the participants and stands out as work that would otherwise be very difficult to carry out, since the nests are often within properties, in private areas. This project thus offers a pioneering opportunity to contribute to a structured monitoring of swallows and swifts populations in Portugal.
​
Register a nest or a nesting colony!
What to register?
The aim of this campaign is to record nests and nesting colonies of swallows and swifts. Either an isolated nest or a group of nests present in a building or in a group of buildings may be recorded.
How often?
Censuses should be carried out every year. In this way we can understand how bird numbers fluctuate and the extent of their breeding range over the years.
​
At what time of the year?
The registration of nests must be done between 1 May and 31 July when all species of swallows and swifts are guaranteed to be in breeding season.
At what time of the day?
It is always recommended to make the records in the early morning or late afternoon, when it is less hot and there is more activity in the nests.
Which nests should be counted?
Only nests which are under construction or occupied are to be counted in this record. All destroyed or unoccupied nests must not be counted.
How to calculate the height (in floors)?
The height at which the nests are located is an important piece of information for us to understand if there is a height preference for any species. However, this information is not very accurate, especially on natural sites such as cliffs or viaducts. It is important to note that there is no zero floor, so if the nests are at the level of the ceiling of a ground floor, we count it as one floor. In a building, we count the number of floors starting from "one", whereas in a natural site we calculate the equivalent by eye.
​
