Title

Nest Box Characteristics for >3000 American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius) Artificial Nest Sites Registered With the American Kestrel Partnership

Document Type

Student Presentation

Presentation Date

4-15-2019

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Sarah Schulwitz

Abstract

The American Kestrel Partnership (AKP) is a program of The Peregrine Fund meant to address long-term population declines of American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) across much of North America. Launched in 2012, the AKP enlists citizen scientists to install and monitor nest boxes across the continent and contribute their data to a shared database. The partnership provides guidelines for preparation and placement of kestrel nest boxes. Here, we summarize data on the AKP’s nest box records for several nest box characteristics, including nest box orientation, mounting surface (e.g., tree, pole, building, etc.), land ownership (i.e., public vs. private land), bedding type, if boxes were cleaned annually, and presence and type of predator guards. We also calculate the annual and total number of nest boxes registered from 2012 through 2018. We found that most nest boxes were installed according to AKP’s basic guidelines (i.e., holes oriented toward the south-southeast, containing wood shavings) and most (85%) were cleaned annually. Additionally, from 2012 to 2018 the number of registered boxes increased from 100 to over 3,000. Future studies could investigate if associations between nest box characteristics and various biological outcomes (e.g., occupancy, reproductive success, etc.) exist for kestrels at this scale.

Comments

Leah Dunn is also affiliated with The Peregrine Fund.

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