This includes barn and roofВ crevices, old woodpecker cavities, and constructed nest boxes. If you find that your box results in repeated nest failures, you may consider relocating it! Importantly, monitoring your box according to AKPвЂ™s basic protocols and reporting your data ensures that your time, energy, and resources become useful to local, regional, and continental scale research questions.Д«ecauseВ American Kestrels don't create their own nests, they will choose a variety of cavity types. Regular monitoring and maintenance of your boxes enables you to remove starlings (if you wish) and collect data on the reproductive success of the kestrels nesting in your box. Additionally, poorly placed boxes (for example, those placed by loud, busy roads) can cause females to abandon their nest. Unfortunately, unwanted guests (like invasive starlings!) can move in and kick the kestrels out. Regularly monitored boxes give researchers valuable information regarding kestrel biology, phenology, and reproductive activity. Monitoring and inputting your data consistently вЂ“ even when kestrels don't use your boxВ вЂ“ is critical. Once we understand the causes, we will be able to make management recommendations that do help kestrels! WeвЂ™ve included information, protocols, and data sheets below to ensure that your efforts will help the kestrel cause! Once you are registered as an AKP partner, you will be able to enter your Nest Record and Observation Data into AKPвЂ™s centralized database. However, since the cause of kestrel decline is still unknown, data from nest monitoring programs are extremely valuable to helping us uncover the mysterious cause(s) of these declines.

That is, installing nesting boxes isnвЂ™t necessarily going to help declining populations if their decline is caused by something other than nest site limitation. If you are interested in installing a nest box with the intention of helping kestrels, you've come to the right place! Research shows that nest boxes aren't a golden ticket to American Kestrel conservation.

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