SNN (ScrollingNetworkNews) ✿ ✿ Our Mel and Sydney returned to their nesting box with plenty of bonding occurring..but after 2.5 months of Sydney in the box from Dec 2013 to mid Feb 2014, the lack of prey gifts from Mel ( perhaps due to the severe and historic drought underway in California)and they have forgone the nesting process this year as many other raptors ✿ Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, Barn Owls consume more rodents – often regarded as pests by humans – than possibly any other creature. ✿ We remind viewers that sometimes owlets may not survive - the parents will dispose of things in "The Owl Way" -viewer discretion is advised, this is nature and the "Owl way". ✿ ~ ✿ “Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.” ― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals ✿ Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius." ~ E.O. Wilson

Friday, May 25, 2012

Cornell Lab of Ornithology - American Kestrel Nest

Their newest BirdCam is an American Kestrel nest at The Peregrine Fund in Boise, Idaho. It features two views: one inside the nest box and another from the outside so you can see adults arrive and admire the western skyline.



About the Kestrels
These American Kestrels are nesting in a nest box maintained by The Peregrine Fund at its international headquarters, the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho. The male, previously a falconry bird, was released at the World Center for Birds of Prey in 2012. He promptly found a mate and took up residence in the nest box. Because the female is unbanded, we don’t know whether she nested here in previous years.

This pair has five eggs, with the last egg laid on April 25. The estimated hatch date is May 24.
Eggs have hatched 5/24

About the Nest
The nest box is surrounded by sage-scrub habitat. This desert ecosystem supports a wealth of small rodents, reptiles, and insects. The short vegetation provides ideal habitat for the kestrels.

In 2011, kestrels in this nest box fledged five young.
Camera link - http://www.allaboutbirds.org/page.aspx?pid=2451