American Kestrels are a wonderful native falcon, and the focus of our citizen science effort called the Kestrel Nest Box Monitoring & Banding Program. Through this program, volunteers make weekly checks of their nest boxes from March through June, and record whether kestrels are using it. If so, our team comes out to band the kestrels and volunteers get to be involved!
This is a really wonderful experience for volunteers, and an important way to support a species that is facing significant declines (more than 50% declines in the last 60 years). And YOU can help too!
An American Kestrel nest box in a grassland (photo by Brenna Marsicek/SoWBA)
Five kestrel eggs lay in a nest box built and monitored by SoWBA volunteers (photo by Karin Exo).
Event activities:
This workshop has two parts.
A presentation so you can learn about American Kestrels (where they live, what they eat, how to help them) and the Kestrel Nest Box Monitoring & Banding Program.
A hands-on activity to put together a kestrel nest box (one box per participant). The pieces for the nest boxes will be pre-cut, and all you will need to do is assemble your box using a screwdriver or drill.
What will you do with your box?
You have two options for what to do with the box you build.
leave your nest box with Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance so we can install it on a property of our choosing, or
bring your nest box home with you to install on appropriate habitat.* Option 2 requires you sign up to be a kestrel nest box monitor through our citizen science program to ensure the box is monitored and stewarded. This option also requires that you buy two 8’ 4”x”4” posts (around $15/post) to install the box on the landscape, and an endoscope (around $40) to monitor the box during the nesting season.
*If you choose to take your box home with you, you will receive follow up information from the program coordinators about installing it this fall and monitoring it in 2026 and beyond. If you opt to take your kestrel box home, you are required to join our Kestrel Nest Box Monitoring & Banding Program to ensure the box is monitored and managed for native species.
Register here!
Registration is open to all. The $10 fee will support this event plus bird conservation in southern Wisconsin. Everyone who registers will receive:
the supplies to build a box ($25 value),
a light dinner, and
great information about kestrels.
If you opt to take your kestrel box home, you are required to join our Kestrel Nest Box Monitoring & Banding Program to ensure the box is monitored and managed for native species. You’ll receive lots of support and access to more information through this program!
Cover photo: Kestrel chicks in a nest box by Phil Brown FCC
