General Discussion : What are YOUR birds doing today? This week?

Here in the Mojave Desert we are also incubating 5 eggs. Incubation started March 31st, also quite a bit earlier than last year's clutch. The female is very diligent, rarely takes breaks, the male is seldom seen incubating. We have a healthy lizard population this year which will serve as the main food source when the eggs hatch. It will be a busy May!

Here in Saskatchewan, things are a little slow so far, but do have a few boxes with activity already. I drove by 10 of the boxes today and had kestrels present at 4 boxes. I didn't open any up, but birds at 2 of the boxes just arrived, so I do not think we have eggs yet (except in one box maybe, the male has been back since March 21st). In general, there have been relative few observations of kestrels around so lots still to arrive I think. Starlings have been present at a handful boxes for a couple of weeks now... We (a group of 5 banders) are operating 80 boxes this summer across the province, covering 300 km North-South.

Hello from Wilmington, Delaware! Things are definitely slow, as expected. Our team is hoping that our cold "Spring" may have delayed some of our nesting pairs this season but are aware that our decline in population over the years may limit the number of successful boxes. Unfortunately, we do not have any kestrels in our boxes but are hopeful as many of our locations have kestrels hunting in the area. Myself and one other volunteer have split the monitoring in our state (a total of 40 boxes thus far.) I have made multiple contacts to expand our nest boxes in other areas of the state and will hopefully get those boxes up in the next week. We have also had some Starlings in and out of a handful of our boxes, as well as a few Tree Swallows. We are working with DNREC to obtain a banding permit. -- Jordan Terrell, Research Apprentice

In southern Maryland it has seemed slow as well. Hopefully this weather will make up its mind. I have a pair hanging around a box that was used last year but the barn took quite a beating during a storm. Seen a few others near boxes so i'm hopeful! Starlings have been ever present and have already removed numerous nests but was not able to catch the culprits! Just got back from the Eastern Bird Banding Assocaition conference and am looking forward to color banding the kestrels next year. Gene Groshon, Calvert County Natural Resources

Here in San Clemente, CA there are definitely active pairs of birds about. In our bird box placed in a kestrel tree used successfully last year, however, there is so far no sign of interest. In this somewhat urban environment the crows are constantly harassing the kestrels. In some cases, they chase the birds over the hills and far away.

Mojave Desert, CA status on our box...Our nest check today revealed that one of the five eggs was broken and off to the side in the box. We are not sure what happened, anyone else had this occur in their box?

In the high desert of central Oregon, I checked a few boxes which were either empty or had Starlings. In prior years the Kestrels have consistently initiated egg-laying in very late April and early May.

Evidently one of my volunteers hadn't read the cautionary note regarding the skipping of box- cleaning this late in the Spring. He visited the eight boxes on his route yesterday and six were empty, one had the nest of a Bushy-tailed Woodrat, and one had a male Kestrel in the box with no eggs. Hopefully the box with the male won't be abandoned due to disturbance so early in the nesting process.
Last year this route of eight boxes was a bit unusual in that all eight boxes fledged young falcons. It's a great route, as it normally has five or six active boxes :-)

Greeting from Oklahoma. We have had Kestrels nesting/roosting in our shop porch area now for 5 years. This is the 4th year with a nest. We cannot see into the nest, but we have discovered that our eggs have begun hatching - we have found evidence of 2 eggs (shells were on ground). Last year they successfully raised a brood of 5. So exciting to see this and be so close every year!

Sadly we had a complete nest failure this year. Female laid 5 eggs, 3 cracked before hatch date, 2 were abandoned about day 34 of incubation. Disappointed this pair were not able to have a successful clutch. Hoping for better success next year!

I checked all my boxes yesterday in Southern Maryland. This time last year I had eggs but nothing yet this year except empty boxes and lots of starlings!

This is by far the longest Kestrel breeding season that we have ever had here in central Oregon. The first eggs were hatched May 9, an early record, and the latest July 2 of this past week, a late record. This season has gone on so long that I'm going to miss 'boxing' when the last chicks fledge!