Beyond the Call

A new study benefits from the extraordinary involvement of citizen-science participants

By Caren B. Cooper

For the past 3 years, 60 participants have helped The Birdhouse Network in a pilot study examining the incubation behavior of Eastern Bluebirds. Even before we started finding exciting results, we discovered that participants were doing more than collecting data as requested. They were providing new and valuable contributions by conducting experiments to pursue their own interests or to improve the protocol.

A data logger (lefthand corner), ready to record temperatures in a nest cup with bluebird eggs.

Photo by John Cys

We wanted to document geographic and seasonal variation in bluebird incubation behavior to test hypotheses about how ambient temperature influences the optimal number of eggs a bluebird should lay in a clutch (see “Incubation Matters” in BirdScope, Summer 2003). To do this, we asked participants to find bluebird nests with eggs and place dime-sized data loggers that would automatically record temperatures outside the box, inside the box, and in the nest cup beneath the eggs. Because the data loggers could only operate for three days before running out of memory storage, we decided to program them so they could collect data during the middle of the incubation period, shortly after the data loggers were expected to arrive in participants’ mail boxes.

We soon learned that participants were not only willing to do what we asked—they found ways to help us hurdle a major limitation of our protocol. For example, the pre-programmed data loggers made it difficult for participants to collect data on incubation behavior prior to clutch completion?data that are key to testing one of our hypotheses. Participants noted this problem and, headed by Keith Kridler of Mount Pleasant, Texas, and Mary Roen of River Falls, Wisconsin, they exclaimed, “Why don’t you let us program the data loggers ourselves?!” Subsequently more than 30 participants have been programming data loggers (limited only by our supply of programming equipment), installing them prior to clutch completion, downloading the data, and then re-programming and re-installing them during the middle of incubation. By implementing this new technology, volunteers found a way to collect the data we needed and took citizen science to a new level of sophistication.

Ken Godwin from Dunwoody, Georgia, conducted the study with his son, who earned a Boy Scout merit badge for participating.

Photo by Carolyn Godwin

Participants have also suggested other ways to improve the study through their own involvement. For example, after reading an article about hatching failure in BirdScope (Summer 2003), Kenneth Godwin of Dunwoody, Georgia, immediately realized that marking eggs as they are laid would allow volunteers to report which eggs in the laying sequence failed to hatch. If suboptimal temperatures during the laying phase affect egg viability and cause hatching failure, we expect the first-laid eggs to fail. Other scientists have used egg-marking as a method to keep track of laying order; now we are evaluating the safety and legality of requesting widespread marking of eggs to test this hypothesis.

Linda Violett of Yorba Linda, California, tested different methods to camouflage the shiny data loggers and improve their placement in the nest cup. In general, birds did not seem bothered by the shiny data loggers, but when they did abandon nests, participants always wondered if the data loggers might have contributed. After experimenting with stockings and paint, Linda found that a simple brown magic marker was effective in removing the shininess without affecting the integrity of the data logger. She found that recessing data loggers slightly into the nest material and avoiding placement in exceedingly narrow cups might minimize complications during the frequent egg rotations that females make during incubation. Linda’s contributions formed the basis for our new guidelines for placing data loggers.

David Shiels of Kaufman, Texas, conducted his own experiments and presented his results at the Texas Bluebird Society meeting. David designed ventilated nest boxes and found that ventilation is effective at reducing box temperatures, an important feature to protect eggs and nestlings from overheating on hot summer days.

Besides helping to refine our protocol, contributions such as these reinforce the notion that citizen science can increase the understanding of and engagement in scientific processes.

Caren B. Cooper is a research associate in the Lab’s Bird Population Studies.

For permission to reprint all or part of this article, please contact Laura Erickson, editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY, 14850. Phone: (607) 254-1114. email: lle24@cornell.edu