I spent some time this afternoon observing a kestrel nest box in The Belwin Conservancy’s Stagecoach Prairie in Washington County. This is one of two nest boxes in a collaboration between Belwin and Saint Paul Audubon. Today, a female American Kestrel consumed a small snake, brought by her mate, on top of the nest box pole, and then she stayed in place and preened for a long time. I was hoping to see her enter the nest box (I think they have one or more eggs but are not yet incubating). As I was walking away, I saw a kestrel and a Common Raven interacting overhead. My initial thought was that the kestrel was trying to drive the raven away from the nest box, and perhaps that’s how the encounter began, but I quickly realized that the raven, not the kestrel, was the aggressor. The Raven continued to chase the kestrel for perhaps a minute, with the kestrel barely able to escape with quick dives and turns until the raven broke off the chase. In 2020, a kestrel pair abandoned this nest box with five eggs. I have suspected that one or both of the kestrels were victims of a Cooper’s Hawk, but now I’m adding Common Raven to the list of suspects.
Julian Sellers Saint Paul ---- General information and guidelines for posting: https://moumn.org/listservice.html Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
