How to monitor a bird's nest - December 13th

I can’t believe that we’ve yet to explain why we visit nests every few days and how we record these important data. Since we’ve only three weeks to go on the Island, it’s about time that I introduce you to the nest cards. So, everyone, meet a nest card:

Front of nest card:

Once you find a nest you fill out a card, letting everyone know the location and height of the nest and what species it belongs to. The upside of this job is that as the nest finder you go down in history as your initials are included in the nest name and recorded for posterity on the card.
 
The back of the card is just like a nest Plunket book! Whenever we visit to check on the chicks we write it on the card. And just like Plunket, we also weigh the chicks and check on their development. We also film each nest once during incubation (when the female is sitting on the eggs) and once after the chicks have hatched.

Back of nest card:

All of the data on the cards together with the films will give Melanie many happy hours of work once she gets home. With it she’ll be able to find out more about the reproduction and behaviour of birds that live on a predator free island.