Menunkatuck has received two grants for kestrel restoration in Connecticut.

Menunkatuck has received two grants for kestrel restoration in Connecticut.

Audubon Connecticut Grant is for $1550

Audubon Connecticut awarded us $1550 for kestrel next boxes and baffles for the mounting poles. We’ve partnered with Tom Sayers and the Northeast Connecticut Kestrel Project on his project to rebuild the nesting population of American kestrels in Connecticut.

Tom’s 55 kestrel boxes are not protected from climbing predators. This Audubon grant will provide for raccoon baffles for the boxes. Additionally, ten new kestrel boxes will be built and installed in the Menunkatuck Chapter area. The grant will be matched with funds from the generous contributions of our members. 

The American kestrel, a robin-sized falcon, was listed as “threatened on Connecticut's Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern Species List in 2004, primarily due to a lack of information, coupled with a perceived decline in nesting and migrating numbers and diminishing habitat.” (CT DEEP)

About five years ago, Tom Sayers created the Northeast Connecticut Kestrel Project (NECKP) nest box program in northeastern Connecticut. The research shows that the single greatest factor in helping improve kestrel numbers are well run nest box projects tailored specifically for this species.

EPOC Awards $3960

The Environmental Professionals’ Organization of Connecticut (EPOC) awarded us $3960 for radio tracking Tom’s kestrels.

At approximately 15 days old, all young birds are banded with federal metal leg bands which they wear for life. If those birds are recovered on either their northern breeding grounds or southern wintering grounds (through netting programs, found dead, etc.) their bands can be traced back to the original banding site, yielding very important data about their movements throughout the year. 

But leg band recovery rates are typically only 1-2%, yielding very small data sets. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has shown a great deal of interest in Tom’s work, but the limited data from the project to date has only been marginally useful in helping direct their efforts towards better land management practices for this species throughout the state.

Tom is determined to improve the quality and quantity of data which his program is generating to help improve management practices aimed at helping this species. Currently, it is not known where the young birds immediately disperse to or how far they go while still in Connecticut or if the birds returning to the boxes in the spring are the same adults from the previous year, other adults new to the area, or previously fledged young birds from that box or some other box in the study area. 

Radio telemetry can provide the answers to these questions and a myriad of others. Basically, the young birds are fitted with transmitters which are then monitored by following them in the study area, and beyond, with a handheld receiver. Getting accurate data on their post-breeding dispersal patterns and site fidelity (which birds are actually occupying the boxes the next spring) is immensely important when making management decisions about land use, the direction, literally and figuratively, that expanded nest box projects should take, and where new nest box projects should be established.

In addition, there are two other university and grant-funded kestrel researchers on the east coast who will be starting up their first ever radio telemetry work with kestrels in the upcoming season to help answer exactly the same research questions referred to earlier. Hawk Mountain, a nationally renowned raptor research center in Pennsylvania, has asked Connecticut to coordinate telemetry work with them as they move forward with their inaugural telemetry work in the upcoming season. To be able to compare/analyze telemetry data sets from three different east coast projects would allow researchers to make great strides in answering some of the questions that need to be answered for more effective conservation and management decisions regarding this threatened species.

The EPOC grant will provide for the purchase of 20 light-weight radio transmitters that will be fixed on the birds’ backs. Using telemetry equipment (antennas and receivers), Tom and DEEP and university researchers will be able to track the movement of the kestrels both in Connecticut and as they migrate.

Audubon Connecticut—an operating unit of the National Audubon Society—is one of Connecticut's premier conservation and environmental education organizations. Its top-notch staff of seasoned professionals works hard to carry out the Audubon mission within the state—protecting birds, other wildlife and their habitats through education, research, advocacy and land protection.

EPOC represent the interests of Connecticut's Licensed Environmental Professionals (LEPs) by providing information, training and updates regarding the LEP program in Connecticut. EPOC welcomes the participation of all members in our activities and recognizes the strength of drawing on a membership of diverse careers, interests and backgrounds.

The EPOC Grant Program provides non-profit and not-for-profit environmental advocacy groups, community based groups and environmental education organizations, funding for local projects that benefit the environment on an annual basis. This year they awarded a total of $9020.

Photos: Tom Sayers