Protecting the 'charismatic' American kestrel
Jul. 13—If you're lucky enough to spot an American kestrel swooping over a field or perched on a telephone line, you might thank Steve Wheeler.
For 50 years, Wheeler has played a key role in keeping New Hampshire's smallest falcons on the landscape, installing nesting boxes for them across the state.
With Mabel, his wife of 45 years, at his side, the retired Fish and Game biologist starts in early summer, checking his nesting boxes, recording successful breeding pairs and banding the young birds. In the fall, he'll return to snare and band adult birds — a way to monitor the welfare and whereabouts of these falcons.
Why the devotion to these birds?
"Kestrels are very charismatic creatures," Wheeler said. "Everyone who sees one on a telephone line has to stop and kind of marvel at it."
But the challenges these birds face are numerous, and daunting. Loss of farmland to development, disappearance of entire tree species from the landscape, and diminished prey due to pesticide use all pose dangers. "What they need is to nest in a cavity, and there's simply nothing out there on the landscape around fields that's suitable anymore," he said.
That's where Wheeler and others like him around the country come in. His is one of 33 kestrel nest box projects in the Northeast, he said.
Wheeler is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, where he started out in the dairy program before switching to forestry. He worked for New Hampshire Fish and Game for 30 years as a fisheries biologist.
But he was always fascinated by American kestrels, and he wanted to help protect them.
Wheeler started putting up nest boxes for kestrels in 1974, and began banding nestlings the following year, keeping careful records of successful nest sites. When his keen eye notes ideal habitat for these raptors — open grasslands with low vegetation, he'll stop and politely ask the landowner if he can put up nesting boxes.
In his experience, "Landowners usually have an appreciation of having wildlife on their land," Wheeler said.
The Wheelers' first stop on a late June morning was conservation land in Boscawen. What American kestrels need is "what you see here," Wheeler said, gesturing to the open field, the grasses grown long and thick.
Wheeler has rigged up a clever contraption that allows him to lower a nesting box to a place where he can reach it with a ladder. One by one, he scooped the baby falcons out of the box and into a cloth tote bag. His wife assisted him, helping with the ladder and handing him the young birds to band.
"She's been doing this for years," he said. "I've been fortunate to have her help and companionship doing it."
"When you walk up to the box, it's like a Christmas present," Mabel Wheeler said with a smile. "You never know what's inside."
The Boscawen chicks were about 12 to 14 days old, still covered in fluff, although their true colors were starting to show through.
Even with kestrels this young, Wheeler can usually tell their gender — the females have red on their tail feathers, while the males are more slate blue. Wheeler gently fit a band around one baby's leg while the tiny falcon chirped its indignation.
Kestrels typically lay four or five eggs. That's intentional, Wheeler said: "The smaller the bird, the higher the productivity."
American kestrels usually live for only five or six years, he said. "They're a bird of prey but they're also preyed upon, just because of their size," he said. Raccoons, foxes and hawks are all threats to these small raptors.
And because kestrels often hunt along roadsides, they can get hit by cars, he said.
But Wheeler said the biggest threat to American kestrels here is "diminished habitat capacity" — the decreasing number of insects such as grasshoppers and dragonflies. "They can take them right out of the air," he said. "It's not a big food source — it's like eating a french fry instead of a hamburger — but everything counts for food."
The Wheelers' second stop of the morning was at a former dairy farm in Concord, where the homeowner had been "tickled pink" when Wheeler first asked if he could put up a box, he said. "She's always been interested in birds," he said.
As the Wheelers approached the box, both parent birds perched on nearby power lines, keeping an eye on the operation. These chicks were a bit older, 18 or 19 days old, and feistier.
Wheeler has a short window of time in which to band the little birds before they fledge and fly away. It's more difficult to band the chicks as they get older, he said. "They'll grab, bite, you name it," he said.
It's rare to witness a young kestrel fledge, Wheeler said. "I remember a couple years ago seeing birds that had just fledged," he said. "Two of them were perched on top of a telephone pole, wondering what to do next."
The parent birds will continue to feed the youngsters daily for a time after they fledge. "You'll hear them just crying and crying for food," he said.
By early July, grasshoppers make an appearance in fields, the perfect prey for parent birds to teach their young how to hunt. "Mice are not easy to start with, so grasshoppers and things like that provide early food sources and sharpen hunting skills," he said.
The adults will swing by with food and the young will chase them, Wheeler said. "The parents will lead the juveniles," he said. "That's how they'll learn to fly."
American kestrel populations have been declining across the Northeast for decades. In New Hampshire, the bird is listed as a "species of greatest conservation need," while other states, including Delaware and New Jersey, list American kestrels as endangered or threatened.
"Kestrels are not doing really well now," Wheeler said. "It takes human intervention for them to really persist."
But these clever birds can adapt to changing circumstances — witness their presence in Manhattan, where they nest on tall buildings, he said.
Wheeler is 78. What happens when he can no longer do this work?
He's been asked that before, "and I don't have any ready answers," he said. "In other states, a local project has been continued by interested volunteers and that may be the case here, but only on a piecemeal basis."
It's not a stretch to think that Wheeler's efforts are keeping these beautiful birds off the state's threatened or endangered species lists, at least for now.
During last year's nesting season, Wheeler monitored 152 nesting boxes statewide, in all 10 counties. He recorded nesting attempts at 94 sites, 79 of which were successful, producing 327 fledglings.
This year looks promising as well. He currently has 187 nesting boxes in 52 towns across the state.
"Box projects like this will ensure that they don't become endangered," Wheeler said.
Michael Marchand, supervisor of Fish and Game's nongame and endangered wildlife program, calls Wheeler "a true inspiration."
"His passion is contagious and his knowledge and experience are extensive," Marchand said.
As Fish and Game revises its state Wildlife Action Plan in the coming year, he said, Wheeler's "extensive work and results will be extremely informative in prioritizing actions for the next 10 years."
