Finished! Looks like this project is out of data at the moment!
The last of the Mourning Doves are in--11,768 cards! Just like the Little Engine, "I think we can, I think we can..."
Find them on telephone wires and at your feeders, or you can discover their nesting behavior by transcribing their nest record cards.
Learn moreChoose your own adventure! There are many ways to engage with this project, including many one-question, smartphone-friendly options. Click on one of the boxes below and have fun!
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Message from the researcher
The work of citizen scientists, such as those who contribute to NestWatch, is what makes our research possible. Because of the efforts of nest monitors, we are able to look at patterns over long periods of time and large geographic areas.
Nest Quest Go: Mourning DovesAbout Nest Quest Go: Mourning Doves
Join the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Citizen-Science Project, NestWatch in understanding the historical nesting patterns of Mourning Doves. In North America, Mourning Doves are the most abundant and widespread game bird.
While they are hunted in North America, these nest-record cards demonstrate a different kind of hunting: the quest for data!
These nest record cards are a subset of a larger collection of more than 300,000 nest records that NestWatch is working on digitizing and transcribing. Valuable scientific questions can be asked and answered regarding the nesting behavior of birds over time by examining historical records. We hope to bring new discoveries to light using these previously hidden datasets.