Smithsonian's Neighborhood Nestwatch

Volunteers for the Smithsonian Institution’s Neighborhood Nestwatch in the Washington, DC, area team with scientists to find and monitor bird nests and to record and report their observations.

Participants help capture, measure, and band backyard birds as well as track their presence from year to year. Through annual summer visits to urban, suburban, and rural backyards, participants and their families receive coaching on how to monitor and report data on nests of common backyard birds.

Volunteers also become an important part of a study seeking to determine the effectiveness of informal education experiences.

If you live within 60 miles of Washington, DC, take a naturalist’s journey into the mysterious lives of neighborhood birds, and join more than 200 citizen scientists making significant contributions to our knowledge of backyard wildlife.