Tag:man_made=nesting_site

A man_made=nesting_site is man-made device equipped with one or multiple nests, serving as an artificial nesting aid for wild animals (mostly birds), compensating the reduction of traditional nesting opportunities.

The tag value should be used only for man made, this means artificial nesting aids. It is not intended to be used for any kind of natural nests. It's also not meant for other man made devices that "accidently" carry an animal nest, e.g. like "misused" power towers and chimneys for bird nesting.

Tags used in combination

A man_made=nesting_site can be tagged without any additional information, but optionally, it often makes sense to give the following information:

• Optionally, a support=* can be given to tell about the mounting of the nesting site, e.g. a pole or a wall.
• The nesting site may be optionally specialized for the species, using species=*.
• Additionally, a capacity=* can be given, as nesting sites with a different number of nests have been sighted.

Photos

• 
  Swallows tower in Bernstadt (Southern Germany)
• 
  A single node particularized with capacity=2 may be used this case
• 
  A stork nesting site in the Dingdener Heide (Northern Germany)
• 
  Many single nodes or an area may be used here
• 
  Nesting poles for storks provided by Caceres municipality (Spain)
• 
  "Misused" towers must not be tagged as nesting sites
• 
  Artificial shelter for bats on a building.

Examples

Here's an example for a Common House Martin nesting colony mounted on a pole:

man_made=nesting_site
support=pole
species=Delichon urbicum
species:en=Common house martin
species:de=Mehlschwalbe
material=metal
capacity=44
name=Liberty City Bird Hotel

For a wall mounted nesting site a proper adaption may be:

man_made=nesting_site
support=wall_mounted
species:de=Rauchschwalbe
capacity=3

For an artifical white storks nesting site deployed on a roof the tagging may be:

man_made=nesting_site
support=roof
species=Ciconia ciconia
capacity=1

Artificial housing for bats can be tagged as well, for example:

man_made=nesting_site
location=underground
species=Myotis bechsteinii
operator=*

Recommendations and Guidelines of Usage

As already stated in the above, man_made=nesting_site should only be used for artificial nesting aids. Please think about possible consequences (e.g. vandalism) when tagging a nesting site. Use the following rules as a guideline:

• You should map nesting sites that act as landmarks,
• You should map well visible nesting site constructions in urban areas,
• You should not map natural nesting sites,
• You should not map nesting aids for endangered birds,
• You should not map economically used animal nestings without asking the owner; these are not in the focus of this proposal, anyway,
• You should not map bee hives or bee boles with the man_made=nesting_site tag, but use man_made=beehive instead,
• You should not tag the species=* for endangered animals.

These guidelines are based on common mapping practice and ethics. Please also refer to the many discussions about this topics.

See also

• man made=birdhouse
• man made=bird_perch