BLUEBIRDS & kESTRELS
CROOKED RIVER NATIONAL GRASSLAND NEST BOX TRAIL
Mountain bluebird nest made of juniper bark | Trish Nevan
In a cooperative agreement with United States Forest Service (USFS), Friends and Neighbors of the Deschutes Canyon Area installed three American kestrel (Falco sparverius) and six mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides) nest boxes on Crooked River National Grassland near Crooked River Ranch in early 2018. All but one of these nest boxes are located on "The Peninsula."
In the past four years, American kestrels, mountain bluebirds, and ash-throated flycatchers have successfully nested in these boxes. We offer guided hikes on the nest box trail in May and June. Participants can help open boxes and record findings.
If you would like join Diane Randgaard on one of her monitoring visits, please sign up for her guided hike.
FANs volunteer, Alice, installs American kestrel nest box on a juniper tree in January 2018. | Diane Randgaard
Male mountain bluebird keeps a close eye on the nest | Chuck Gates
Male American kestral incubating five eggs.
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Diane counts mountain bluebird eggs in nest box in May 2019. | Trish Nevan
Mountain bluebird eggs and day old hatchling discovered in nest box. | Marilynne Keyser
Hikers check nest boxes on the Crooked River National Grassland Nest Box Trail in May 2019. | Trish Nevan
Sophie opening bluebird nest box in June 2019. | Eric Hanson
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Kestrel chicks and a headless western fence lizard (their favorite food) born May 16, 2023| Ilene Smith
Ken Hashagen shows young kestrel to group that observed banding in 2018 | Diane Randgaard
Ash-throated flycatcher eggs in May 2020. | Marilynne Keyser
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CROOKED RIVER RANCH KESTREL NESTBOX TRAIL
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Working with Friends and Neighbors of the Deschutes Canyon Area (FANs), Karen and Mick Atwood monitor 10 American kestrel nest boxes scattered throughout Crooked River Ranch. FANs is a part of a collaborative group, including East Cascades Audubon Society (ECAS) and the American Kestrel Partnership, working to understand the demographics of kestrels as their numbers are declining. Starting in December/January, our monitors visit each of the boxes, clean out old nests and fill the boxes with clean cedar chips. In mid-May, they again visit our boxes to check for signs of nesting. There are occasionally other native birds using the boxes, usually mountain bluebirds, occasionally northern flickers. However, if an invasive European starlings selects a nestbox before the kestrels arrive, the kestrels will move on to another box. Usually we have 3 to 6 boxes active kestrel nests. Once we have a box with kestrel eggs, the monitors will follow up about every 2 to 3 weeks, to check the status for eggs and nestlings. Once they nestlings are between 14 and 21 days old, Ken Hashagen, a bird bander with ECAS, visits the box with us to take measurements, determine gender and band the chicks. |
Taken July 5, 2022 at Box 41 on the property of Marilynne and John Keyser. Their box has fledged 21 kestrel chicks since 2010
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