Kestrel Nesting Project

Videos from the Kestrel Nest Box Project

A windy day at the kestrel box!

Our kestrel nest box is located in Huerfano County, Colorado, where the wind can really howl. The kestrel, the smallest falcon in North America, is well suited for flight in strong winds and has no problem coming and going from the box.

Male Feeding Female

During egg incubation, the male will bring food to the female. She rarely leaves the nest box between egg laying and hatching, which takes about 30 days.

Banding Kestrel Chicks

The North American Buffalo Range partners with the Peregrine Fund, Cornell University, and the Colorado Avian Research and Rehabilitation Institute (CARRI) to collect nesting data and to band chicks before they fledge and leave the nest.

Checking Nest Box #001 for Eggs

Every year, we make a special visit to our kestrel nest boxes to check them for eggs. In 2025, we are installing a camera inside a nest box! Be sure to tune in for those fun and informative videos!

What Does Our Data Tell Us?

A Season of Nest Monitoring - 2024

We monitor our kestrel nest boxes 24/7 with remote cameras. This allows us to document when the adult kestrels come and go, what type of food they are bringing to the nest, and when chicks first appear outside the box. By analyzing this data, we can predict when eggs have been laid and when they've hatched. We report this data to Cornell University, where biologists are studying the habits and nesting success of the North American kestrel, a species that is under-studied and who's populations appear to be in decline across the continent. We also share this data with you, our followers, so you can examine it and see what else you can learn about kestrels in the process.