The Peregrine Fund's Kestrel Partnership

The American Kestrel is a bird familiar. Our smallest and most colorful falcon can be found throughout the United States, from coast to coast, Canada to Mexico and south into Central America. While common in many areas, breeding bird surveys have suggest a steep decline in many parts of the country. The Peregrine Fund, a leading nonprofit organization specializing in raptor research and conservation, has set up a program to encourage us (bird-loving citizens) to build kestrel nest boxes and monitor their breeding success. If you have access to land that would be suitable for nesting kestrels, then you should definitely check it out.

The Peregrine Fund’s new American Kestrel Partnership is a research and conservation project supported by birders, families, students, scouts, researchers, teachers, and anyone else inspired by the Western Hemisphere’s only kestrel species.  You can join the Partnership by creating a partner profile, building and hanging kestrel boxes, and then peering into them once every 1-3 weeks from April through July to record the numbers of eggs and nestlings.  

After collecting the nesting data, simply enter it on the American Kestrel Partnership’s website, and voila, you just contributed both kestrel nesting habitat and data to the largest kestrel research and conservation program in history.  NOW is the time to have a box-building party with your family, friends, or students, as kestrels will be busy selecting nesting sites and setting up home in the next couple of months.  

To participate and learn how to establish your kestrel box, check out the American Kestrel Partnership’s website. 

All photos and much information today provided by The Peregrine Fund.