The Cornell Nest Box Network (CNBN) is funded by participant fees and a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF grant is for three years only. During this time, we hope to get CNBN off to a sound start. We will learn what scientific questions we can answer with an army of CNBN citizen scientists. We will learn how best to present the materials and how to provide materials for youth groups. At the end of three years, our research will be in full swing, but our funding will be coming to an end. Your participants' fee will enable the project to continue by paying mailing costs, printing costs, and staff salaries. Joining CNBN is like subscribing to a magazine. But, instead of receiving a magazine every month, you receive research materials, data forms or software, reports of your research results in Birdscope, and access to the CNBN staff for support every step of the way. Most important, you get to contribute in a real way to conserving a number of your favorite bird species.

When we receive your data, whether it's on computer-scannable bubble forms or a computer disk, the first thing we do is edit it. We pore over the data forms looking for common mistakes and omissions, and once they are edited, we scan them into the computer. A data set is created, which we then analyze to answer specific questions. For example, a subset of the data that pertains to clutch size will be analyzed separately from another subset that pertains to calcium use, and so forth. Your data will "live" on our computer permanently.

ONE (or more, if you wish). There is a common misconception that to participate in the Cornell Nest Box Network, you need many nest boxes. Not true. One box that you can monitor in your backyard (or on your patio, balcony, deck, or at the park down the street) is all you need to make a valuable contribution to CNBN.

House Wrens are frequently implicated in puncturing the eggs of other cavity-nesting species. For this reason, some nest-box landlords prefer not to play host to House Wrens. If you prefer not to attract House Wrens, make sure your nest boxes are far from shrubs or woods. The more open the site, the better. Please remember that it is illegal and unethical to disturb the nest or the eggs of any native bird species, including House Wrens. The only species that are not protected by law are the nonnative European Starling and the House ("English") Sparrow.

This is a common question we receive during the breeding season. The major telltale sign of a marauding raccoon is a totally disheveled nest: eggs or chicks, if they were present in the nest, may have been dumped to the bottom of the box, or they may be gone altogether. Nest material is pulled up from the nest; many times it is hanging out of the entrance hole. Sometimes, nest material is on the ground under the nest box. Raccoons tend to either sit on the roof of the box or hang onto the side of the box and reach one of their arms through the entrance hole. They pull at anything they can reach, whether it be nest material, eggs, or nestlings. Once raccoons start raiding your nest boxes, they are quite capable of wiping out many broods in one night.