NestWatch by the Cornell Lab

3.0
134 reviews
10K+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
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About this app

NestWatch is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s citizen-science project that tracks nesting birds in North America. Found a bird’s nest? You can report it for science.
Sign in to:

Add a nest location using the interactive map.
Add data on species, number of eggs, number of young, hatch date, and other pertinent details.
Contribute to North America’s largest database on avian nesting success.

Features:
Full offline functionality, enabling use in places with limited or no Internet connection or cellular service.
Enter bird nest observations from anywhere in North America.
Track your nesting statistics in real time.
Ideal for managing nest box trail data.
Automatically syncs with web version for seamless multi-user and multi-platform support.
Your data are openly available for scientific research, education, and conservation right away.
Learn more about monitoring birds’ nests for science at http://nestwatch.org/.
Updated on
Jun 18, 2025

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
This app may share these data types with third parties
App info and performance and Device or other IDs
This app may collect these data types
Location, Personal info and 4 others
Data is encrypted in transit
You can request that data be deleted

Ratings and reviews

3.0
127 reviews
Joel Bacon
June 13, 2024
When using the Android version of NestWatch in the field I often get multiple nest visits, sometimes 2, 3 or 4 instead of the 1 nest visit that truly occurred. I have tried airplane mode; I have uninstalled and reinstalled the app, but neither has provided a solution. Using the clunky app beats having to pack a clipboard, paper and pencil, but it is aggravating to have to check everything over on my MacBook Pro, making all the deletions and adding data that never made it to my desktop.
5 people found this review helpful
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Cornell Lab of Ornithology
June 20, 2024
Hi Joel, We're sorry to hear about your experience. Our programmers are working on an update that we hope to release soon, and it should help the app work much smoother. For those that are experiencing usage issues with the app, we recommend using the online data portal in the meantime - we apologize for this inconvenience.
Robyn Boggs
April 15, 2024
I'm trying to enter all the information for my Nest box trail at home before I go out. It's frustrating that I can't edit it. I would like to change the name of the nest, so that I can list each one with a number, since there are 14 boxes. I can't edit the nam, and it keeps using my home location. I have uninstalled it and will try again, but I don't know if it will work with my account that I already set up. There should be a way to delete a box without archiving if you make a mistake.
1 person found this review helpful
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Cornell Lab of Ornithology
April 18, 2024
Hi Robyn, Thanks for your feedback. The app is meant to pair with your online account-it is a replacement for paper data sheets, so there are some account functions not available on the app. Please sign in to NestWatch.org to make major edits and delete any erroneous data. Email nestwatch@cornell.edu if you have any questions, we're happy to help!
A Google user
May 31, 2019
Just imputted my first report of the year; I installed the app after last year's nesting season concluded. Very easy to use - I suspect I might use this more than the website! I'll have to wait and see how it goes with adding Participant photos. Update - still a great and easy to use app, but the photos I took from the last few visits have not yet uploaded. That's my only complaint about it.
13 people found this review helpful
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Cornell Lab of Ornithology
September 18, 2019
Hi Emilee, Thanks for the review. If you are uploading over a cellular connection, it may take some time depending on the speed and quality of your connection. Try restarting the upload from the photo's overview page. If you still experience issues after restarting the upload (using WiFi if possible), please contact us at NestWatch@cornell.edu

What’s new

In this update, we are happy to provide you with the following new features
* Nest Groups: Create and manage nest groups to keep your nest list organized. Any nest groups you have created on the website will sync to your device.
* Your nest list can now be filtered by selecting a nest group
* You can also filter your nest list by status

We have also optimized the way data is synced to the app from our servers. Users with large datasets will see a faster sync process.

Thank you NestWatchers!