On Sunday, Raphael and I looked into our Kestrel nest box with our camera attachment for the first time and saw a mama kestrel! Unfortunately, we were pretty surprised and did not get a picture fast enough!
We did see her fly out of the nestbox, and later we got some photos of her eggs!
Kestrels are our smallest native falcons. They love to eat grasshoppers and meadow voles, which can do a lot of damage to an organic farm.
They are listed as in critical need of conservation by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Loss of habitat and pesticide use are the main reasons the kestrel population is in decline.
This is why we were contacted last spring by the American Kestrel Nest Box Project to join with other Frederick County farmers and landowners to host a Kestrel nestbox!
In spring of 2025, volunteers from the American Kestrel Nest Box Project came out and hung up a kestrel nestbox on a telephone pole on the farm. Mike Spurrier, who is heading up this project in Frederick County, has come out to monitor the nest boxes several times since then.
A few weeks ago, Mike showed us how to use the camera attachment so we could monitor as well. Basically, we were supposed to look and see if there were any signs of either kestrels or other birds like sparrows or starlings.
Looking at the photos we got of the eggs, there are 5 kestrel eggs and 1 starling egg, which is smaller and blue. Mike’s guess, since we saw the female kestrel, is that a starling laid one egg and then was driven from the nestbox by the kestrel pair. This is a very good thing! These starlings are not originally native to North America, but were introduced in the 1870s.
Seeing the kestrel mama flying across the farm last Sunday was a joyful confirmation that we are increasing biodiversity on the farm and supporting communities beyond just the community of people we feed.
I am hopeful that our kestrel pair will be able to hatch and raise their clutch successfully and that more kestrels will come to live on the farm over the years!
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