The American kestrel was once an abundant resident of the Northeast, but populations in the region and locally in New Jersey have steeply declined due to profound and widespread human interference in the kestrel’s breeding, nesting, and feeding grounds. Listed as a threatened species in New Jersey since 2012, the American kestrel poses a particular challenge to environmentalists working to restore their habitats, because this bird largely relies on existing tree cavities for nesting, rather than building new nests.
In an effort to welcome the American kestrel back to the region, FoHVOS Community Conservation spearheaded an initiative to build and install fifty kestrel nesting boxes in the Hopewell Valley area. Partnering with the Kestrel Conservation Program and volunteers of all ages, FoHVOS organized events throughout March to increase community awareness about the American kestrel, and how we can help address human damage to the habitats of this petite bird of prey.
The kestrel box initiative was met with enthusiastic community involvement, and made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Endangered and Nongame Species Program, which funded materials for 50 kestrel nesting boxes. Each weekend in March, FoHVOS land stewards led workshops in the greater Hopewell community, teaming up with groups from Bloomberg, Calvary Baptist Church, Girl Scouts, Cub Scout Troop 1776, Cambridge School, The Pennington School, Painted Oak Nature School, and Hopewell Elementary School.
Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space is a fitting advocate for these open-field raptors, who favor grasslands, meadows, pastures, and clearings—in part because kestrels are adaptive, and will use man-made nesting boxes, provided appropriate size and location. While the boxes have been completed, there is still more work to be done on the kestrel project.
With the help of FoHVOS land stewards, community volunteers and stewardship interns return to each box every two weeks to maintain the boxes, remove non-native competing species, and monitor nest activity. So far, four of the new boxes are occupied already, and we have high hopes for the other sites. Successful nests are visited by a state biologist from NJ DEP’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program and the adults and hatchlings are banded to track population recovery.
- Kestrels can see ultraviolet light.
- The American kestrel can be found as far North as the Arctic, further south than the Andes, and across the American continents in between.
- The Watershed Institute “From Fluff ball to Falcon On the Watershed Reserve”
- The Watershed Institute “Kestrel Banding-YouTube”
- Hopewell Express “Nesting boxes could help threatened kestrels rebound”
- Hopewell Valley Neighbors Magazine “Community Conservation: FoHVOS Collaboration Helping Kestrels”
- NJ Conservation Foundation “A little help for our kestrels” Executive director Michelle S. Byers
- Mercer County Community News “Nesting boxes a boon for endangered kestrels“