April 11

       Kestrels are continuing to move into the project area at a steady pace.  There are now kestrels in the vicinity of 24 nestboxes.  The conventional wisdom with nestbox proximity has often been to place the nestboxes no closer than 1/2 mile to existing nestboxes. When I find a promising large ( 30+ acres) area of prime contiguous kestrel habitat I often like to put up 2 boxes in that area to give the birds a "choice" if/when they begin exploring the site. Last year, purely by happenstance, I actually had 2 boxes that were a mere 300 yards apart both have kestrels successfully breed in them. This lead me to pursue what I now call my practice of saturation. I have now started adding second, and even third boxes, to large areas of prime habitat that have had kestrels successfully breeding there in the past. 

     My practice of saturation was validated again today when I spied a male kestrel on top of a box in the same field where there is already a pair of kestrels established at a different box in the same field. It remains to be seen if that second male will be joined by a female, but it is an interesting observation nonetheless. 

This picture shows 2 successful boxes from last year 297 yards apart.   

This picture below shows the 2 boxes I observed today. They are 325 yards apart. The north box has a pair at it and the south box was where the male was seen today.

The picture below shows the most extreme example of saturation that I have attempted to date. I have observed birds at box boxes this spring, but it currently impossible to tell if there are actually two different pairs at work here. In a couple of weeks I will be going in to the boxes to do an egg check. That will tell the story. These boxes are 149 yards apart.

    If I continue to have success with this practice of saturation it could have significant implication for other kestrel researchers out there who are keeping their boxes 1/2 mile, or further, apart. We'll see.