Male Kestrel Stops By To Take Over Incubation Duties – May 1, 2024

After the female departs, the male American Kestrel drops in to settle over the eggs. After laying the first egg 17 days ago on April 14, the kestrels are now about halfway through the incubation period.

Watch the cams live at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/kestrels

The American Kestrel cam is a collaboration between the Cornell Lab or Ornithology and the Raptor Resource Project.

This American Kestrel pair is nesting in a gravel-bottomed nest on private property near Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. The nest box is located on the side of a traditional limestone-footed barn, overlooking a rolling grassland that slopes away into folded hills and forests. Our partners at the Raptor Resource Project have watched kestrels breed at this site for over 25 years, and the wonderful combination of grassland, forest, and water that surrounds the property is an excellent example of the habitat that kestrels need to survive and thrive. Watch cam.

The young birds begin to hatch out of their eggs after about a month of incubation. Over the following 3-4 weeks, the nestlings will transform from downy bobbleheads to sleek, dull versions of their parents on a diverse diet of invertebrates, small mammals, and birds (watch this highlight of the female feeding the young). After fledging, the young will continue to be cared for by their parents, remaining near the nest as they learn to hunt and master flight.

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