Tree Swallow Nest Box Productivity Dataset from Long-Point, Ontario, Canada (1977-2014)

The Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) is one of the most common birds in eastern North America that normally nests in tree cavities excavated by other species like woodpeckers, but also readily accepts human made nest’ boxes. Based on this quality and their abundance, Birds Canada has monitored nest boxes of tree swallows around the Long Point Biosphere Reserve, Ontario, from 1974 onwards. Each year, May through June, volunteer research assistants check nest box contents daily, and band the adults and their young. Nest-box records are available from about 300 boxes from 3-4 sites during this period. Data collected includes nest box observations, clutch initiation dates, clutch size and egg weight, nest success, weather, insect abundance, and banding data. This data set includes all data entry related to eggs, nests, nestlings, nest check observations, and banding data from 1977 to 2014. This dataset is designed to be open access and used directly with R (version R 4.0.3) and can be complimented with large scale weather data from nearby weather station. Additionally, this dataset will be updated to include insect and weather data collected at the study site. The goal organizing this dataset is to be used for studies focusing on, but not limited to: egg weight shifts over time and with respect to weather and diet, effects of wintering grounds on egg mass and nest success, nestling provisioning rates, and nest success trends with respect to rainfall.

** All relevant metadata can be found within the dataset **