Nice! Some do seem to adapt well to city life. Certainly lots of food there with rodents and small birds. And in Central Park lots of greenery I guess.
@@hervedelnorte7928 Yes! I was surprised and mesmerized by the little guys appearance. I am contacting the wild bird fund to see what they are doing here. Perhaps I can volunteer to built Nest Boxes. thanks.
We have had a kestrel sit up on the chimney pot in the back of our building in our very dense urban city! It spent at least a year sitting out there regularly, we would see it get mobbed by robins occasionally but it held its own and was the king of the block for a while. I always wondered where it nested around here. It was so beautiful! If i ever live in a place appropriate for a nest box, I'd love to build one like this.
Thanks Christine for this insight. I’ve seen Merlin (the other small American falcon) live and breed within cities quite successfully, feeding on birds such as starlings, house sparrows, Robins, doves etc. Kestrels can do the same but I don’t think quite as frequently. They will nest on large, older stone buildings with brick window ledges and things like that.
@@hervedelnorte7928 Perhaps because we're along the Hudson River and the Atlantic flyway migratory route, we seem to get a nice variety of birds unusual for an urban area. We have had a rough legged hawk (which loved to pluck and dismember pigeons in a tree outside the kitchen window), a red-shouldered hawk just this week, and what I believe was a peregrine falcon catching a sparrow, among several others I can't recall at the moment. There are of course a lot of bald eagle just outside our urban zone up the river too. I feel very fortunate to be able to enjoy these birds despite our location! To your comment on their nesting areas, there is a large basalt formation (the Palisades) that runs behind us up the river, so maybe it nested there!
Good-looking box and very nice video. I've made dozens of kestrel nest boxes over the last 40 years. I personally like the side "hinged" version. I lean my extension ladder against the pole containing the nest box so that the nest box is at a 90 degree angle from my body. The front hinged version forces a person to lean back away from their ladder in order to look inside.
Thanks BC . That’s a good point. As you know, many designs on the internet have a hinged top, but those are even harder to look in. I’ve made a couple with partial hinged sides where just the lower section hinges but I need to develop that design a little. For some reason the last couple years my pair appeared to be nesting fine but no young appeared later. I checked my box a couple months ago, thinking I might find some dead young but nothing. Not sure what’s going on with them. I don’t typically look in when they appear to be nesting. Don’t want to bother them.
Very much like the Screech owl box's I build. I use a front opening as I feel I can secure the box better. At some point along the line I have started using a double layer roof on most of the box's I build. The first is generally 3/8 to 1/2 inch lower than the back and sidewall's and the second overlapping the walls and back. It allows weather proof venting at ceiling of the box and protection against heat gain for a box in direct sun most of the day.
A good way to secure the front using a screw.. In areas with Ravens you have to make sure they can't get into birdhouses and most closures are not much of a challenge for them and they will open a box and take the babies..
Thanks. I’ve never had an issue with Ravens even coming near the houses. Bigger issues with squirrels chewing the holes larger and very occasional weasels getting in (I think).
Yes they have used it several times and then in other years they may use one of my other boxes. Not sure that it’s always the same birds though. Probably not actually.
Hawks are protected by federal law under the migratory bird treaty act. As you might have guessed, this makes it illegal for anyone except a master falconer to own pet hawks. You simply can’t go out into the wild, catch a hawk, and take it home. That would be illegal.
Cool. We put up a box about 3 years ago and a pair set up housekeeping last year and has fledged 2 broods. We have enjoyed watching these little falcons. ruclips.net/video/aAFGfFIs-So/видео.html
Just had one of these sit on my window sill here in NYC.Beautiful creatures.
Nice! Some do seem to adapt well to city life. Certainly lots of food there with rodents and small birds. And in Central Park lots of greenery I guess.
@@hervedelnorte7928 Yes! I was surprised and mesmerized by the little guys appearance. I am contacting the wild bird fund to see what they are doing here. Perhaps I can volunteer to built Nest Boxes. thanks.
We have had a kestrel sit up on the chimney pot in the back of our building in our very dense urban city! It spent at least a year sitting out there regularly, we would see it get mobbed by robins occasionally but it held its own and was the king of the block for a while. I always wondered where it nested around here. It was so beautiful! If i ever live in a place appropriate for a nest box, I'd love to build one like this.
Thanks Christine for this insight. I’ve seen Merlin (the other small American falcon) live and breed within cities quite successfully, feeding on birds such as starlings, house sparrows, Robins, doves etc. Kestrels can do the same but I don’t think quite as frequently. They will nest on large, older stone buildings with brick window ledges and things like that.
@@hervedelnorte7928 Perhaps because we're along the Hudson River and the Atlantic flyway migratory route, we seem to get a nice variety of birds unusual for an urban area. We have had a rough legged hawk (which loved to pluck and dismember pigeons in a tree outside the kitchen window), a red-shouldered hawk just this week, and what I believe was a peregrine falcon catching a sparrow, among several others I can't recall at the moment. There are of course a lot of bald eagle just outside our urban zone up the river too. I feel very fortunate to be able to enjoy these birds despite our location! To your comment on their nesting areas, there is a large basalt formation (the Palisades) that runs behind us up the river, so maybe it nested there!
@@christineb8148sounds like a very good birding area with lots of action!
Good-looking box and very nice video. I've made dozens of kestrel nest boxes over the last 40 years. I personally like the side "hinged" version. I lean my extension ladder against the pole containing the nest box so that the nest box is at a 90 degree angle from my body. The front hinged version forces a person to lean back away from their ladder in order to look inside.
Thanks BC . That’s a good point. As you know, many designs on the internet have a hinged top, but those are even harder to look in. I’ve made a couple with partial hinged sides where just the lower section hinges but I need to develop that design a little.
For some reason the last couple years my pair appeared to be nesting fine but no young appeared later. I checked my box a couple months ago, thinking I might find some dead young but nothing. Not sure what’s going on with them. I don’t typically look in when they appear to be nesting. Don’t want to bother them.
Very much like the Screech owl box's I build. I use a front opening as I feel I can secure the box better. At some point along the line I have started using a double layer roof on most of the box's I build. The first is generally 3/8 to 1/2 inch lower than the back and sidewall's and the second overlapping the walls and back. It allows weather proof venting at ceiling of the box and protection against heat gain for a box in direct sun most of the day.
Nice plan. I want to build something like that and place on side of house outside one of our 2nd level bedrooms.
A good way to secure the front using a screw.. In areas with Ravens you have to make sure they can't get into birdhouses and most closures are not much of a challenge for them and they will open a box and take the babies..
Thanks. I’ve never had an issue with Ravens even coming near the houses. Bigger issues with squirrels chewing the holes larger and very occasional weasels getting in (I think).
What bedding should I use?
nest boxes can be attached to houses on the sides facing the woods in order to encourage people to get closer to wildlife
It's been a long time since this video. How did the kestles react to this nest? Did they live in it?
Yes they have used it several times and then in other years they may use one of my other boxes. Not sure that it’s always the same birds though. Probably not actually.
Should I be placing hamster shavings in my smaller bird houses too?
No need to for the small birds. They will build their own nests.
Hey I was wondering if I can buy an American kestrel I’m the USA or catch one and train it for car hawking
Sorry. I’m in Canada and can’t help you with that. I prefer to help them survive in the wild.
Hawks are protected by federal law under the migratory bird treaty act. As you might have guessed, this makes it illegal for anyone except a master falconer to own pet hawks. You simply can’t go out into the wild, catch a hawk, and take it home. That would be illegal.
Cool. We put up a box about 3 years ago and a pair set up housekeeping last year and has fledged 2 broods. We have enjoyed watching these little falcons. ruclips.net/video/aAFGfFIs-So/видео.html