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Project:  "Reproductive success in American Kestrels: The roles of habitat quality, individual quality, and human disturbance"

Summary:  American Kestrels utilizing nest boxes in Southwest Idaho show variation in reproductive success depending upon nesting locations (Steenhof et al. unpubl. data). The aim of my research is to examine factors that affect American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) reproductive success in an attempt to explain this phenomenon. I will measure and relate reproductive success (number fledged per pair) to variables which may affect Kestrel reproductive success. These variables include habitat quality, individual quality, and level of human disturbance. As the mechanism between poor reproduction and environmental and endogenous variables may be chronic elevation of the stress hormone corticosterone (CORT), I will analyze CORT in both adult and nestling Kestrels. Samples will be collected from birds nesting along I-84, near homes, and along secondary roads in SW Idaho. Results from this study may be used to identify factors that negatively affect Kestrel reproductive success, and the physiological means by which this happens. 

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  This page was last reviewed on 02 April 2008.