This summer Ed Pike and Kelly Davis are again banding American Kestrel (AMKE) nestlings in nest boxes at several locations on Little Traverse Conservancy and private properties in Emmet, Cheboygan, and Charlevoix Counties. The birds are banded with numbered aluminum bands issued by the USGS Bird Banding Lab., under Ed Pike’s banding permit.
Nestlings can be banded between 13 and 23 days of age. The best age for banding is 16 to 20 days. The young are able to fly and leave the nest box at 28 to 30 days of age.
Due to varying times of nest initiation there are young of various ages in different nest boxes. At 2 nest boxes the female stayed in the box and we were able to place a band on her leg (the young in those nests were too young to band). Young were banded in 4 nest boxes, with the individual boxes containing 5, 4, 4, and 3 young. So far we have banded 8 male and 8 female nestlings, although the ratio in each nest is not 50/50.
There are 7 nest boxes that have young which will hopefully be banded toward the end of June when the young are the proper age to band.
