American Kestrel - Biodiversity Centre for Wildlife Studies

Kootenay National Park, Radium Hot Springs, BC.
153 pp.
About the Authors
Dean is a naturalist living in Cranbrook. He
regularly takes part in Christmas Bird Counts and
other bird-watching events in the East Kootenay. In
addition to birds, Dean studies butterflies, moths, and
dragonflies in the East Kootenay.
Valerie is a naturalist living in Cranbrook. In
addition to having an interest in local birds, she has
a keen interest in local vascular plants and has been
participating in a three-year survey project in Mount
Assiniboine Provincial Park.
UNUSUAL NEST SITE FOR AN AMERICAN
KESTREL IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Brent M. Matsuda
Jacques Whitford AXYS, 4370 Dominion Street, 5 th
Floor, Burnaby, BC. V5G 4L7
The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) does
not create its own nesting cavity and is considered
a secondary cavity nesting species. It uses
woodpecker-excavated holes and natural cavities
in both living and dead trees. Other natural sites
include cavities and crevices in banks and cliffs and
occasionally open and closed nests of other avian
species. The kestrel readily accepts artificial nest
boxes and occasionally nests in small, enclosed
spaces in buildings (Smallwood and Bird 2002). In
British Columbia, this small falcon has also been
found nesting in artificial sites including crevices in
abandoned buildings (Campbell et al. 1990).
During the summer of 2006, while conducting
fieldwork in the Nemiah Valley, about 180 km
southwest of Williams Lake, British Columbia, a
pair of American Kestrels was observed nesting in
our lodging building. It is believed that a woodpecker
(most likely the Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus),
originally excavated the cavity, in pressboard, in
the side of the ranch house, approximately 6.5 m
above the ground. A dead woodpecker was found
151
on the ground about 10 m from the nest hole early
in the spring, but its identification was unconfirmed.
Cause of death was unknown but it did not appear
to die violently. It is estimated that the American
Kestrel pair began nesting in June 2006 while the
human occupants of the house were out of town. A
neighbour had noticed nesting activity and the birds
remained when the owners returned in early July. At
that time, the owners could hear noises in the wall
of the house and estimated that the nest contained
two or three nestlings. On 27 July an undetermined
number of nestlings were still in the cavity and one,
close to fledging, appeared at the entrance (Figure
1). The family had been very vocal and active
throughout our stay during the last week of July.
Figure 1. Near-fledging American Kestrel at nest
entrance in a cavity on the side of a lodge. Nemiah
Valley, BC. 27 July 2006 (Brent M. Matsuda). BC
Photo 3434.
Wildlife Afield

Young would call from inside the nest hole while an
adult was vocalizing from trees 50 m away. By the
end of the month an unknown number of young had
fledged and shortly thereafter all the kestrels left the
nest for good.
Other nest sites in buildings in British Columbia
have all been in small openings or crevices in walls
and roofs (R. W. Campbell, pers. comm.). The Nemiah
Valley nest appears to be the first documented use
of a woodpecker hole in a building, which in itself
seems unusual.
The nesting chronology falls within the
period listed by Campbell et al. (1990) for British
Columbia.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are extended to John and Tracy Tanis
for their hospitality and providing early season
information on the chronology of the nesting kestrels.
Jacques Whitford Environmental Ltd. supported the
fieldwork being conducted in the area at the time of
this observation.
Literature Cited
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-
Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, and M.C.E.
McNall. 1990b. The birds of British Columbia:
Volume 2 – nonpasserines (diurnal birds of prey
through woodpeckers). Royal British Columbia
Museum, Victoria, BC. 636 pp.
Smallwood, J.A., and D.M. Bird. 2002.
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius). In The Birds of
North America, No. 602. (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.).
The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.
32 pp.
About the Author
Brent is a wildlife biologist/naturalist and
consultant who recently returned to Vancouver after
working in California for the past five years. While
typecast as a herpetologist, most of his professional
work has been with birds. However, he prefers to
work on a variety of taxa, whether in Canada or
abroad.
3:2 December 2006 152
WILDLIFE DATA CENTRE
FEATURED SPECIES - HEERMANN’S GULL
R. Wayne Campbell l , Michael I. Preston 2 , Spencer G.
Sealy 3 , Bob Hansen 4 , and Michael G. Shepard 5
1 2511 Kilgary Place, Victoria, BC. V8N 1J6
2 940 Starling Court, Victoria, BC. V9C 0B4
3 Department of Zoology, University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg, MB. R3T 2N2
4 Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, PO Box 280,
Ucluelet, BC. V0R 3A0
5 533 Foul Bay Road, Victoria, BC. V8S 4G9
Of the 23 kinds of gulls in British Columbia
there is one species that has been coined “antigull”
because its appearance is unlike any other gull on the
Pacific coast. Also, instead of migrating south after
the breeding season it flies north. Heermann’s Gull
(Larus heermanni) is the only species that does not
show the typical gray back and white belly. Adults
are unmistakable with their pure white heads and
necks, dusky bodies, and black tails. Immatures and
juveniles have sooty brown bodies. In all age groups,
the Heermann’s Gull is the only gull with a twotoned
bill at all ages (Figure 1).
The entire world’s population of Heermann’s
Gull nests on a handful of islands in the Gulf of
California, Mexico. After the breeding season,
in late May, adults and immatures start to migrate
north instead of south along the west coast of North
America. This “reverse” migration is rare in birds,
and unique in Pacific coast gulls. By late June and
early July, migrants have reached coastal areas of
southern British Columbia, which is the northern
limit of their summer exodus.
Heermann’s Gull spends about four months
loafing, preening, moulting, and feeding in the
province and by the end of October only stragglers
remain. Most of the population spends the winter
along the coast of western North American in
California and Mexico.
This little-studied Pacific gull feeds mainly on