2 Somewhat shy or elusive. Somewhat conspicuous 4 Very conspicuous. Unconcerned or oblivious to your presence. Went to the nest with you standing nearby Minutes at the nest number of minutes you spent observing the nest. If no activity is observed at the nest, minutes spent observing is critically important in deciding whether the nest is still active.
Parents are sometimes away from an active nest for long periods of time.
It is sometimes necessary to spend 30 minutes or more to get a good idea of whether or not the nest is active. Seeing no activity after 30 minutes of observation is much stronger evidence that the nest is no longer active than a 5 minute observation. You don't always have time for a 30 minute observation but we need to know how long you did watch. Comments Comments are critically important, particularly when it's impossible to check nest contents directly. These data are not reported to the central data repository, but are essential to the determination of nest fate and days under observation.