Are bird nests safer in urban habitats or rural areas?
Bob Reitsma, a research scientist with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, set out to answer this question. His initial hypothesis was that rural nests would be less likely to be predated. He used two different nest studies to test his hypothesis. One study was derived from information recorded by Neighborhood Nestwatch (a citizen science project) participants on 166 natural nests of common backyard birds. The other study came from the use of 318 artificial nests, essentially small wicker baskets, placed in randomly chosed Neighborhood Nestwatch participants’ backyards.
