Nest boxes
Placing and monitoring of nest boxes (for tits and other birds) at the UAB campus.
Since the 2012-2013 academic year, the group of environmental volunteers of the Fundació Autònoma Solidaria (FAS), in coordination with the UAB Environmental Office (OMA), have been carrying out a project to build, install and monitor Nest Boxes on the Bellaterra Campus, with the aim of promoting knowledge of the biodiversity of the Campus and creating artificial spaces where some bird species can be created.
In general, the volunteers begin monitoring the boxes between the end of March and the beginning of April, with the arrival of spring. The boxes are divided between the Faculty of Sciences and Biosciences (10 boxes) and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the Rector's Office area (15 boxes). These boxes are visited periodically, every two weeks, to be able to see all the evolution from the egg phase to the chicks.
Up to 5 species of birds have bred in the nest boxes that the OMA and the FAS volunteers placed on the UAB campus for the 2012-13 academic year and which they have been monitoring regularly since then. From 2013 to 2020, a total of 133 nests and 611 eggs have been counted and more than 440 chicks have flown in the nest boxes distributed around the campus.
- Species that breed in the nest boxes (infographic, in catalan)
- Results from 2013 to 2020 (presentation, in catalan)
As can be seen in the compilation of results from 2013 to 2020, the species that have bred in the nest boxes up to now have been the great tit (Parus major), the crested tit (Parus cristatus), the tick tits (Parus ater), the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and the tree sparrow (Passer montanus), which during these seven years have made 133 nests, laid 611 eggs, hatched 514 chicks and flown 441.
Analysing the data obtained, it is necessary to distinguish a first period (up to the academic year 2016-2017) with a predominance of coalmen over sparrows, while since then, the presence of sparrows in front of coalmen has increased greatly. In the academic year 2018-2019, 15 more boxes were added to the project (until then there were an average of 25) and some were built with a fairly small entrance diameter to try to favour the charcoal burners on campus once again.
In general, all these data are qualified as very successful, since in this particular case the location of the boxes is within urban areas and in direct contact with the users of the campus.
For more information on Nest Boxes in Catalonia you can consult the following link: www.nius.cat (where you can find information on bird's nests all over Catalonia; you should choose a year and expand the map to the area you are interested in).