These Pint-Sized Predators Need Our Help

The American Kestrel is one of the most striking birds you'll ever see. This beautiful falcon is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Dressed in slate blue and rusty red, they're sometimes spotted hovering over a field or keeping watch from fence posts and telephone wires across North America.

Lately though they're getting harder to find. And a big part of the reason why comes down to something surprisingly simple: they can't find a place to nest.

Why Kestrels are Struggling

Kestrels are cavity nesters. Unlike birds that weave their own nests from twigs and grass, kestrels rely on existing holes: an old woodpecker cavity, a hollow in a dead tree, or a nook in a barn or building. They don't dig these spaces themselves. Instead, they rely on pre-made homes.

As open land is developed and dead trees are cleared away, the natural cavities kestrels count on are disappearing. And the ones that remain are increasingly claimed by aggressive invasive species like European Starlings that muscle kestrels out of the few good spots left.

This means fewer places to raise their offspring. In many parts of their range, kestrel numbers have been quietly declining for decades.

Recent studies have pointed to possible additional contributing factors, like neonicotinoids and pesticides.

Why we Started Wingpress

Here's the hopeful part: this is a problem we can actually do something about.

Kestrels readily adopt nest boxes. Give them a well-built box in the right spot, at the right height, facing the right direction, and they'll move in and raise a family. It's one of the rare conservation stories where a simple, physical thing can actually move the needle.

Our goal is to ship quality nesting boxes out into the world and, just as importantly, help to ensure they are placed well. A great box in the wrong location doesn't help much. So we focus on building homes that maximize their chances of success, and placing them where they will actually get used.

It's a small act with an outsized payoff. Put up a box, and you might just watch a pair of the continent's most beautiful little falcons make it their home.

And as this effort grows, the goal is to support others in their quest to foster flourishing raptor populations.