Getting ready for the kestrels

Today we cleaned out the kestrel houses and put in new wood shavings.

We have two kestrel houses and one of them has been used for the past three years. As the photo shows, this house sits at the edge of the wetlands. Nearby is a large tree, and up the hill from there is a major bur oak savanna. Apparently this is good habitat for kestrels.

Kathie and I built the kestrel houses from plans I found on the Internet. The mounting arrangement is a design used by Mark Martin at Goose Pond. The house sits about 15 feet off the ground. The mounting pole hinges so that it can be brought down for cleaning.

It took a fair bit of pounding to loosen up and scrape out the contents. After the house was clean, it was stocked with a couple of large handfuls of clean wood shavings.

Getting the house back in vertical position is not easy, as the house and pole are fairly heavy. In a pinch, two people can do this, but three are better.

The photo below shows the house in mid summer, when it was being well used.