American kestrels are settling in nicely at the Pole Farm

The American kestrel is a threatened species, particularly in the Northeastern United States. But we have encouraging news from the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm. Breeding pairs are making the park their home, and we have more kestrels today than we did in previous years.

When they’re not hovering over the meadows, looking for prey, the kestrels can often be spotted sitting atop bird boxes in the middle of the fields, far back from the trails we humans tread. There were enough kestrels living at the park last summer that Mercer County naturalists came to band several of them. Friends have heard from rangers that we have five breeding pairs in residence now. UPDATE: The county says there are at least seven kestrel nests in the park!

One of the pairs has taken up residence in the maintenance barn beside the primary parking lot for the park, where Cold Soil Road dead-ends into Keefe Road. For the last few weeks in the hour or two after sunrise, at lease one of the kestrels has perched on the big tree to the right as you exit the lot and start up the paved trail.

My birding buddies and I have staked out spots between the barn and the tree. We’ve watched the kestrels fly to and from not only the one tree and another tall one across the path, but they’ve also flown in and out of a hole in the barn wall, just beneath the peak on the side facing the parking lot.

Judging by the frequency of the flights, we’re convinced the couple have chicks inside and are feeding them seemingly continuously. It won’t be long before the young ones fledge.

If you’d like to see the kestrels, I recommend that you arrive at the Cold Soil lot around 7 a.m. As you pull into the park, look up toward the big tree just right of the paved path. Odds are decent that you’ll spot one of the kestrels perched on a bare branch at about 2 o’clock on the clock face mapped onto the tree.

Park and step out onto the paved path. Check the hole in the barn to see if one of the birds is perched there. My friend Andy got a photo of two birds in the hole the other day.

The birds stay fairly high up and don’t seem to get spooked by people pointing binoculars or cameras at them, so it’s possible you can get a good look. But they are wild creatures and will take off in the blink of an eye or the moment you turn your head.

I’m rooting for these magnificent birds to be fruitful and multiply. 🦅