Local nonprofit seeks volunteers for American kestrel “Hatch A Hundred” campaign

A local nonprofit is seeking volunteers to expand the group’s successful American kestrel nesting program.

The Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space has partnered with the Wild Bird Research Group to expand its nesting box program and collect more data to support kestrel conservation.

Volunteers will help construct, install, and monitor kestrel boxes, with a goal of hatching 100 kestrel chicks to help repopulate New Jersey’s rare falcon and eventually bring it out of threatened status. Volunteer opportunities include:

• Monitoring nest box sites: Observe and record kestrel activity during the breeding season.
• Hosting a nest box: Provide over an acre of grassland habitat or farm-adjacent land to install a nest box.
• Connecting the organization with landowners: Help us expand the program by introducing us to others with suitable land.
• Helping build boxes: Help us build boxes for sites, we will have a few building events

A volunteer information session will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25, at Calvary Baptist Church, 3 East Broad Street, in Hopewell Borough. Register for the meeting online.  

Background

In 2012, the American kestrel was named a threatened species in New Jersey. Decades of habitat loss, a decline in suitable nesting sites, and competition from species like the European Starling led to a significant decrease in kestrel populations throughout the Northeast.

Despite their small size, kestrels play a crucial role as avian predators, consuming grasshoppers, beetles, voles, mice, and occasionally small birds. The reduction of predator populations can have negative downstream ecosystem effects. Research shows that kestrels help control insect and small mammal populations in agricultural lands and deter birds from fruit orchards, reducing crop losses. The threatened status of the New Jersey kestrel population indicates that their loss and the subsequent ecological impacts, while not imminent, are possible.

In 2019, the Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space spearheaded an initiative to install 50 kestrel nesting boxes across the valley. Since then, the local kestrel population has seen a 400% increase in nest box occupancy and significant growth in fledged chicks, from three in 2019 to 61 in 2023. In 2024, two-thirds of the group’s nest boxes hosted kestrels, rearing 81 kestrel chicks.