News from the American Kestrel Partnership

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The fall newsletter from the American Kestrel Partnership shared some fascinating stories from kestrel nest box monitors in 2023. From broken eggs to buffleheads and cliff-side nests to long-distance migrations, kestrels in North America had an interesting year! You can read the kestrel breeding season stories in the AKP newsletter, under the section title, "Tails From a Wild 2023 Season" here. Here's one anecdote that they shared from a nest box monitor in Oregon:

"Diane Kook discovered the attachment hardware on one of her boxes had failed. Without a replacement on hand, she managed to temporarily mount the box at a much lower height than the standard 8–20 ft (2.5–6 m) we recommend, planning to properly reinstall it during her next visit. But the local kestrels had other ideas: by the time she returned, the box was occupied! Four kestrels eventually fledged from the limbo-level box, whose floor was a mere 2.5 ft (0.75 m) off the ground."

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