People often ask what my typical work day is like and what I mostly do (from March until August) is nest search. I find the nests of tiny little grey endangered birds. I monitor these birds religiously keeping track of when they arrive, when they find a mate, when they build their nest, when they lay their eggs, how many they lay, when they hatch, how many hatch, and when their chicks leave the nest, and then I follow up to make sure they survived after they left the nest. I also try and keep track of when they leave the area to migrate back to Mexico. This may all sound like a lot of info to gather..and believe me..it is! I will also add that I have to do this for up to 142 pairs of birds. This is an enormous amount of info and that is why I spend 5-6 months of each year, 8-9 hours a day working outside in the field gathering it. Luckily, nest searching has become one of my favorite things to do!!
I was first introduced to nest searching in the spring of 2000 while working with Henslow’s Sparrows in Tennessee. I had no nest searching skills to speak of and really did not understand how one would go about finding a birds nest. I learned that I would soon be sneaking up on birds and observing them for long periods of time while trying to be as still and quiet as possible. There were certain rules to follow as well such as never making a trail to the nest. You could not walk straight to a nest then go back the way you came as this could lead a predator right to it. You had to sort of walk by the nest and glance in as you passed. Also, we had to keep an eye out for predators (especially other birds) who could and would watch us to find out nest locations. Jays were especially adept at finding nests. I heard stories about one project where all the nests were flagged 5 meters south of the nest. A smart jay came along and figured out the pattern and went to every nest with a flag marking its location and ate them all! If a potential predator might be around we sometimes had to do “fake” nest checks. We would approach several bushes in the area (one holding the real nest) and check them all, peering into each bush to throw off the jays, crows, mockingbirds, or ravens that might be keeping an eye on us. We also did not want to draw cowbirds (a parasitic species) to the nests either.
Different species pose different challenges to finding their nest. Some birds are ground nesters, some scrub or tree nesters, while others will nest in cavities or crevices. The nests can be located at a range of heights depending on species as well. Nests are composed of all sorts of materials: moss, spider webs, sticks, branches, flowers, snake skin, feathers, twigs, mud, leaves, and sometimes even man-made objects. Each time I find a nest, made out of a variety of materials, and containing eggs of different sizes, shapes, colors, with different markings like spots, etc…it is like finding a work of art. To me, they are natures little masterpieces.
When I nest search I get into a sort of “one with nature” mode. I wear only earth tone colors so I blend in with the scenery, and will crawl into a bush or scrub and just sit absolutely still, moving nothing but my eyeballs and just “become” part of nature. After sitting there for a while I just seem to blend in as I have had many close encounters with animals while doing this. I once had a whole family of quail (mom and 15 tiny babies) run by me, completely unaware of me, and so close I could have reached my hand out and touched them. I have also had deer, and coyote walk right up to me as well while in this comatose state. Some of the more curious birds such as wrens and hummingbirds have come literally within an inch of my face or my eyes.
Some nests take a very long time to find, and I feel I am up against a clock somehow on some bizarre game show where the bird is my opponent. I have had to crawl into the territories of some fussy birds that would freak out if they saw me. One little bird would come and find me no matter how quietly I entered it’s territory and no matter how far outside of the territory I would start to crawl. It would end up perching right above my head and would start scolding me. It was like I was playing hide and seek with the bird, with me always losing! I swear the bird enjoyed it. When I have a bird this challenging it is always a huge triumph when I find it’s nest. I feel exhilarated and sometimes a little giddy and like I have really accomplished something that day.
I think one of the reasons I enjoy nest searching so much is because it is a challenge, and you can set goals as to how many nests you want to find that day, or what particulars birds nest you want to find that day, etc. and then you can really focus on the task and get it done. I thrive on setting goals and then meeting them. I am definitely a “to do” lister and finding nests is sort of like completing everything on your “to do” list for that day. It is a test in patience, focus, using observational skills, the ability to be quiet and still, to be sneaky, to outwit nature, and sometimes it involves a lot of luck! No matter how you find the nest, it is always quite satisfying in the end.
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