Your Land & Water for July 2025
- jhansen49
- Jul 15
- 5 min read
What's in this issue?
North America's smallest falcon is quite the star and you can read all about how this diminutive predator is doing in the wild thanks to a little bit of help from some dedicated volunteers.
American Kestrels and Nest Box Programs
by Suzanne McCarthy
American Kestrels are the smallest, most numerous, and most widespread falcons in North America. They are also the handsomest raptor (in my opinion) with their blue, brown, and rufous coloring (males). They live in semi-open areas ranging from meadows, grasslands, and deserts to parks, croplands, and urban environments. Kestrels in warmer areas tend to be year-round residents. Those that breed in colder climates typically migrate south in winter. Many migrants follow a leapfrog pattern—traveling from a more northern location, passing another population, and settling even farther south for the winter.
Unfortunately, American kestrels have been declining throughout the United States, especially in the northeastern US: from Maine to Virginia and west to Pennsylvania. While other raptor species have bounced back from declines that were due primarily to DDT, such as bald eagles and peregrine falcons, kestrels have continued to decline, with roughly 50% of the kestrel population in the northeast having disappeared.
There are a number of potential causes for this decline and the actual explanation is probably a combination of factors. These include loss of insects and other prey due to climate change and habitat loss or alteration, and pesticides that may be killing rodents and insects or weakening falcons themselves. They may be subject to predation by larger Cooper’s Hawks, which have increased in numbers. Kestrels are cavity nesters and may be suffering from an insufficiency of nesting cavities or may be out-competed for such sites by other species.
Kestrels readily inhabit human-made wooden boxes to raise their young, and some return to the same spots year after year. “For the birds that show up to nest boxes, their success rates are very high,” says John Smallwood, a biologist and raptor researcher at Montclair State University in New Jersey, of his study area. Across the country, from roughly March through August, hundreds of volunteers regularly check thousands of nest boxes erected on public and private lands and in backyards, to monitor how many chicks successfully hatch and fledge. Most of these volunteers build their own nest boxes, mount them, monitor them, count and band nestlings, report on numbers, and clean and repair the boxes after the nesting season ends.
One such volunteer is Steve Eisenhauer who maintains 340 kestrel boxes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 2018 Steve began an effort to connect all the individuals, government entities, and organizations involved with helping American kestrels recover from the decline they have been experiencing in the northeastern states. Annual reports from these participants are posted on the website https://www.americankestrel.online/. For 2024 the following was reported for the 11 states and New York City.
11 American Kestrel nest box program states in northeast region
Data is from kestrel nest box program managers in the northeast states. The following 2024 banding-age nestling counts are limited to contributors who provided data from both 2023 and 2024, although new entries for 2024 are also included.
Totals:
2023 banding-age nestling count = 5,193 (PA Game Commission NE Region not included)
2024 banding-age nestling count = 5,854 one-year increase = 13%
Pennsylvania: 2,569 (up 24% from 2,071 in 2023; includes Musser 2024 count)
Virginia: 1,365 (down 4% from 1,415 in 2023)
New Jersey: 564 (up 15% from 491 in 2023)
Connecticut: 368 (up 11% from 331 in 2023)
New Hampshire: 322 (down 2% from 327 in 2023)
New York: 292 (down 9% from 320 in 2023)
Vermont: 148 (down 9 % from 162 in 2023)
Maryland: 98 (new entry for 2024) Maryland Farmland Raptor Program
Massachusetts: 66 (up 14% from 58 in 2023)
Maine: 51 (up 46% from 36 in 2023)
Delaware: 11 (down 67% from 33 in 2023)
New York City kestrel update for 2024: Data from the Raptor Trust (Bird Rehabilitation Center) located in northern NJ that receives kestrels mostly from NYC: 56 fledgling and juvenile kestrels received from NYC boroughs (up from 49 in 2023). 52 were released. Although more young kestrels needed rehabilitation in 2024, it indicates that more kestrels may have bred in NYC this year.
See the website for details of the managers and their reports and for other information including a “Summary of an American Kestrel Nest-box Program in New Jersey and Pennsylvania,“ along with reports from prior years, descriptions of nest-box monitoring methodology, building nest boxes, the merits of different types of pipes supporting the boxes, banding tips, some interesting findings and questions, and more.
The kestrel nesting-box efforts are an example of the large, dedicated number of individuals who work to protect the environment and to enhance preservation of our animal and plant species. It’s really quite remarkable how many people are willing to dedicate their limited time and their energy to such actions. Here are some interesting facts about volunteers:
One out of four Americans volunteer, and two out of three Americans help their neighbor, according to a study performed by The Corporation for National & Community Service
Benjamin Franklin started The Union Fire Company, in 1736, the first volunteer-run firehouse worldwide.
Volunteers, on average, spend 50 hours per year donating their time to the greater good.
Volunteers under the age of 24 account for 22.6% of all volunteers.
28.2% of Millennials volunteer each year.
30.7% of Baby Boomers volunteer each year.
24.8% of Silent Generation Americans volunteer each year.
39.9% of parents volunteer each year.
30% of veterans volunteer each year.
Utah has the highest rate of volunteers in America (51%)
Volunteering decreases the likelihood of high blood pressure development by 40% (Carnegie Mellon study).
According to an AmeriCorps report, people who volunteer over 100 hours a year are some of the healthiest people in the U.S.
Those who volunteer regularly have a 27% better chance of gaining employment.
92% of human resource executives agree that contributing to a nonprofit can improve an employee's leadership skills (Deloitte Impact Survey).
Volunteers are worth an average $28.54 an hour according to an Independent Sector Study, with a total value of over $184 billion dollars.
There are more than 1.8 million active nonprofits in the United States alone and nearly all depend on volunteers.
Volunteers are 66% more likely to donate financially to the organization they support than those who do not volunteer their time.
66% of volunteers give their time to improve their community, and 83% do so to contribute to a cause they care about. (Sterling Volunteers)
70% of corporate volunteers believe volunteerism boosts morale more than company mixers.
96% of volunteers reported that the action enriched their sense of purpose in life.
Thank you, Steve, and all the nest box managers and volunteers!
Sources:
Eisenhauer, Steve. American Kestrel Northeast Region. 7th Annual Next Box Program Report – 2024. Americankestrel.online
Hewitt, Renee. The American kestrel is Declining – Why That Matters, and What We Can Do.” April 27, 2025. Intobirds.com.
Mock, Jillian. “What is Causing the American Kestrel’s Perplexing Decline?” [National] Audubon Magazine, Spring 2023. https://www.audubon.org/magazine/what-causing-american-kestrels-perplexing-decline