Nestbox provisioning in a rural population of Eurasian kestrels: breeding performance, nest predation and parasitism
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Published source details
Fargallo J.A., Blanco G., Potti J. & Vinuela J. (2001) Nestbox provisioning in a rural population of Eurasian kestrels: breeding performance, nest predation and parasitism. Bird Study, 48, 236-244.
Published source details Fargallo J.A., Blanco G., Potti J. & Vinuela J. (2001) Nestbox provisioning in a rural population of Eurasian kestrels: breeding performance, nest predation and parasitism. Bird Study, 48, 236-244.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Provide artificial nesting sites for falcons Action Link |
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Provide artificial nesting sites for falcons
A before-and-after study in mixed farmland and oak woodlands in Avila and Segovia, central Spain (Fargallo et al. 2001), found that the local population of Eurasian kestrels Falco tinnunculus more than doubled between 1993 (23 pairs) and 1998 (55 pairs) following the installation of 47 nest boxes over the same period. The number of kestrels in natural nests remained approximately constant (15-25 pairs), whilst the number in nest boxes increased from three (1993) to 35 (1998). Birds in nest boxes fledged more chicks and experienced less nest predation than those in natural sites (3.6-3.8 fledglings/clutch and 12% predation for 79 nest box clutches vs. 2.4-2.8 fledglings/clutch and 37% predation for 37 clutches in natural nests). Nest box chicks had more ectoparasites, but this difference was not significant. Nest boxes were installed in winter: 14 in 1993-4, 11 in 1994-5, 16 in 1996-7 and six in 1998.
