Kestrels in warmer regions tend to be year-round residents. Kestrels are found across much of the continent, from Alaska and Canada down to Mexico they also occur in Central and South America. They live in semiopen areas ranging from meadows, grasslands, and deserts to parks, croplands, and urban environments. And for now, the tiny raptors abound.Īmerican Kestrels are the smallest, most numerous, and most widespread falcons in North America. This is only day one, kestrel one of the three-month field season. The bird must weigh at least 123 grams to safely carry the load of the 3.5-gram tracking device. But Kaleta can’t attach the location tracker that is essential to her research. The researchers take measurements, inspect his feathers, clip metal identification bands around his legs, and mark his chest with a smear of blue nontoxic dye so they can tell from afar that they’ve already captured him. Once Kaleta frees him from the trap, she keeps him calm by slipping him into a tube made of two frozen-juice containers taped together. Unfortunately, the kestrel that Kaleta caught this morning-a male, given his slate gray wings-isn’t going to play a starring role in uncovering the cause of his species’ decline. Still in the early days of their investigation, researchers are making the most of what they’ve got: lots of kestrels, a willingness to drive thousands of miles, a small army of pet mice, and cutting-edge tracking technology. They’re working to fill some crucial gaps in the kestrel’s life cycle, capturing valuable information about how birds fare over the winter, their migratory routes, and their survival rates. Photo: Karine Aignerįrom their perch in northern Texas, Kaleta and Bednarz are perfectly positioned to help find out. Maddy Kaleta is studying American Kestrels on their wintering grounds in Denton, Texas. No one knows exactly what’s driving the losses or where the birds are running into trouble-making it difficult to figure out how to stop or reverse the trend. Although the birds are still common, the decrease has scientists worried. While Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, and other raptor species have rebounded in North America since the banning of DDT in the 1970s, American Kestrel numbers have continued to drop, plunging by an estimated 50 percent. Her findings could help answer a question that raptor researchers and conservationists across the continent are racing to answer: Why are kestrel populations declining? Relatively little research has been done on the birds up and down North America’s central corridor, or during the winter. Throughout the winter, Kaleta will scour sprawling Denton County to band, tag, and monitor dozens of kestrels. The state is thought to host one of the country’s largest winter populations, with the feisty falcons flocking to its vast grasslands, agricultural fields, and booming neighborhoods to hunt for insects, rodents, and small birds. This time of year, Texas is the place to be if you’re looking for kestrels. Victory: They caught an American Kestrel. The robin-size bird doesn’t squawk or flail it just glares indignantly at the jubilant humans as they untangle it from the fishing line. As the car rocks to a stop, Kaleta and Brooke Poplin, both graduate students who work with Bednarz, leap out and scoop the trap and falcon off the ground. While trying to snatch the mice, it had slipped a foot through a loop of fishing line sprouting from the trap.īednarz floors it, racing the short distance to the captive. After trying to catch the just-out-of-reach mice, the kestrel flaps its wings-but goes nowhere. Bednarz joins in, urging the bird to strike: “You’re an eagle! A kestrel eagle.”Īs they banter, the colorful predator flies to a wire above the trap, then swoops atop it. “You’re an apex predator,” Kaleta says to the distant falcon. The humans are watching, willing it to fall for the bait. The American Kestrel bobs its tail as it scans the muddy fields of a future housing development strewn with construction equipment. Kaleta snaps back inside as Bednarz quickly reverses, stopping a few hundred feet away. She opens the car door, leans out, and, as the car rolls to a stop, gently sets the contraption on the grassy shoulder. Kaleta grabs a ring-shaped wire mesh cage the size of a small throw pillow with two oblivious mice scampering inside. “Let’s go,” says her advisor, University of North Texas ecologist Jim Bednarz. She whips out binoculars and confirms the bird isn’t banded. “Kestrel!” says Maddy Kaleta from the passenger seat, pointing to a tiny black blob on a power line ahead. The occupants are straining forward, looking intently at the sky. On a chilly, overcast December morning in North Texas, a car prowls a pitted dirt road.
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