Team member descriptions, email addresses and websites
1. Pennsylvania
Emily H. Thomas and Don Watts in northwest Pennsylvania
Thomas is a professor at Penn State University’s DuBois campus. With her students’ and Don Watts’ assistance she manages a northwest PA kestrel nest box program that extends into the western corner of New York. William Highhouse initiated the program 40 years ago with 23 boxes erected.
Contact email for Professor Thomas: eht5002@psu.edu
PA Game Commission, Southeast Region, led by Lauren Ferreri & Dan Mummert
PA Game Commission, North-Central Region, led by Mario Giazzon
The PA Game Commission’s mission is to manage and conserve all 480 species of wild birds and mammals in Pennsylvania as well as their habitat for current and future generations. The kestrel program summarized here is just one of many successful conservation programs being carried out by the PGC and an example of how much our organization is doing for the conservation of all wildlife in PA.
Contact emails: lferreri@pa.gov, dmummert@pa.gov and mgiazzon@pa.gov
Paul Karner Memorial Banding Team in Bucks & Northampton Counties is composed of Devich Farbotnik and Jere Schade in Bucks County and Kevin Kelly in Northampton County
Jere Schade is a master raptor bander who works with team members Steve Benningfield, Devich Farbotnik and Kevin Kelly. For many years Jere assisted Paul Karner in Northampton County. He is keeping the Karner Kestrel Nest Box Trail alive after Paul’s untimely passing. In 2023 Schade visited a red-tailed hawk – that had been shot and brought to a rehab center – that he banded 28 years ago, making it one of the oldest of this species ever documented.
Contact email for Jere Schade: jerebrenda@aol.com
Contact email for Devich Farbotnik: birdwatcher24_7@yahoo.com
Central Pennsylvania Conservancy and Natural Lands, led by Steve Eisenhauer
In 2017 a meeting with staff of Penn State University’s Shavers Creek Environmental Center (SCEC) led to a volunteer effort to expand SCEC’s initial efforts to attract kestrels to nest boxes. The effort has evolved to where Eisenhauer is now listed as a SCEC collaborator, rather than a volunteer, and where two nonprofit land trusts, Central PA Conservancy and Natural Lands have assumed co-leadership roles, and SCEC manages a more geographically-limited kestrel nest box program.
Contact emails: eisenhauer@natlands.org; steveeisenhauer0@gmail.com; jbeale@centralpaconservancy.org
websites: About Us - Central Pennsylvania Conservancy (centralpaconservancy.org) and Natural Lands | land for life. nature for all. (natlands.org)
Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center (SCEC), led by Jon Kauffman
SCEC is part of Penn State University. Kestrel nest box installations were initiated in 2016 and have expanded since then. Research on kestrels in the program is coordinated by Professor Allison Cornell, who teaches at the PSU Altoona campus but includes in her research bluebird nest boxes on the State College campus. Jon Kauffman manages a barn owl nest box program in addition to his kestrel work.
Contact email: jvk5019@psu.edu
Jim Moffett in Chester & Berks Counties
Moffett has installed and monitored bluebird and kestrel boxes for many years as a volunteer, but recently transitioned to a Preserve Manager position with French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust. He continues his volunteer work with a number of organizations. His kestrel program is distinctive for its hinged post system that allows boxes to be lowered without the need for a ladder.
Contact email: jmoffett@frenchandpickering.org
Hawk Mt. Sanctuary in Berks County, led by JF Therrien and Bracken Brown
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary has been studying the breeding, wintering and migratory habits of American kestrels for more than 50 years. Today more than 200 kestrel nest boxes have been placed within a 25-mile radius of Hawk Mountain and each year the boxes are cleaned and monitored for signs of activity.
Contact email: therrien@Hawkmountain.org and brackenbrown@hawkmountain.org
website: HAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY | Hawk Mountain Sanctuary: Learn Visit Join
Hershey Area Raptor Partnership, led by McKelvie, Holzman & Hess
Nate McKelvie, a middle school science teacher at the Milton Hershey School, co-founded with his wife, Christie, the Rooted & Free Nature School. McKelvie, along with Ann Holtzman and Katie Hess, manage the kestrel nest box program in the Harrisburg and Hershey area.
Contact emails: McKelvieN@mhs-pa.org; Ann Holzman battude@yahoo.com; Katie Hess Kaahess@hersheypa.com
website: Rooted & Free Nature School (rootedandfree.org)
- Virginia
Lance & Jill Morrow in Shenandoah Valley
Lance and Jill Morrow band birds within the Shenandoah Valley Raptor Study Area SVRSA, established in 2008, in western Virginia. The SVRSA comprises a variety of land uses: agricultural fields, hayfields, orchards, woodlots and residential/commercially developed areas. They have over 80 kestrel nest boxes which produce over 300 nestling kestrels annually. In addition, the Morrows have 90 bluebird nest boxes and 15 barn owl nests that are monitored with all nestlings banded. In the off season, the Morrows write papers for publication in scientific journals; see ResearchGate.
Contact email: saltlick2003@gmail.com
Alan Williams and associates
With over 600 kestrel young produced from their boxes in 2022, this program is in the top two of the 40 known programs in the northeast states.
Contact email: alanbwill@gmail.com
Highland County Kestrel Project, led by Patti Reum
From its base in Blue Grass. Virginia, this program was initiated with kestrel nest box installations in 2014. Kestrel banding began in 2017. The program includes breeding season monitoring and winter road surveys.
Contact email: pareum@gmail.com
- New Jersey
Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space
The FoHVOS kestrel program began in 2019 by engaging over 100 community members to build and monitor 50 nesting boxes throughout Hopewell Valley. The program was funded by the Endangered and Nongame Species Program of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP/ENSP) and as kestrels are found they are banded by NJDEP Biologist Bill Pitts. In 2019, 14 kestrels occupied nest boxes with populations increasing each year to 65 in 2022.
Contact email: Beth Craighead bcraighead@fohvos.org
website: https://www.fohvos.info/kestrel-nesting-boxes/
Raritan Headwaters and Morris County Parks
Raritan Headwaters (RHA) initiated the Kestrel Partnership in 2018 to help in the recovery of this threatened species while also imparting best management practices (BMPs) to benefit all wildlife. The goals are to increase the kestrel population over time by giving them a head start in finding a place to build their nests and raise young.
Contact email: Kristi MacDonald kmacdonald@raritanheadwaters.org
website: Saving the American Kestrel while Protecting Land & Water - Raritan Headwaters
Natural Lands in southern NJ, led by Steve Eisenhauer
Natural Lands southern NJ program began in 2015 with installation of nest boxes in the six southernmost counties. Only one kestrel nest box -- installed by NJDEP/ENSP staff and volunteers -- was successfully occupied at that time. With the assistance of NJDEP Biologist Bill Pitts, the program has expanded since then to 41 occupied boxes in 2023 with 154 kestrel young produced and banded, with all of the occupied boxes located in the three westernmost southern counties. With only a few exceptions, nest boxes are located on or adjacent to livestock grazing land.
Contact email: steveeisenhauer0@gmail.com
NJDEP/ENSP in central and northern NJ
In 2012, NJ listed the American kestrel as a State Threatened species. The Endangered & Nongame Species Program (ENSP) has a nest-box program to both support local populations and study reproductive parameters such as nest occupancy, hatching success, and causes of failures. Efforts to understand kestrel decline began in 2002-2004 with the design and implementation of a study effort to document kestrels in NJ. After the alarming findings of the study, a nest box program was launched in 2006. Led by Bill Pitts, with implementation dependent mostly on volunteer individuals and organizations, the program has grown to over 100 successful boxes and 400 chicks banded in 2023.
Contact email for NJDEP: william.pitts@dep.state.nj.us
website: https://dep.nj.gov/njfw/wildlife/raptors-in-new-jersey/#kestrel
Duke Farms in central New Jersey, Somerset County
An integral part of avian studies at Duke Farms, the NJDEP/ENSP Kestrel Program started in 2006 under the guidance of NJDEP biologists. In-house banding started in 2020, along with an on-site MOTUS tower installation and new kestrel boxes in 2021. In addition to other NRCS easements, Duke Farms added 368 acres to the USDA Grassland Reserve Program in 2018, greatly expanding kestrel habitat. Since 2020 Duke Farms has banded over 85 kestrel chicks and 8 have been outfitted with radio tags.
Project lead contact: Clifford Berek, cberek@dorisduke.org
Learn more about Duke Farms, A Center of the Doris Duke Foundation at www.dukefarms.org
John Smallwood in Sussex and Warren Counties
A professor at Montclair State University, Smallwood's wide range of kestrel research and recovery efforts began in the 1980s. He initiated a kestrel nest box program in northwest New Jersey in 1995 that currently involves monitoring around 100 nest boxes.
Contact email: smallwoodj@mail.montclair.edu
- Connecticut
Northeast CT Kestrel Project, led by Tom Sayers
This project has been creating nesting spaces for American Kestrels since 2008. Sayers interacts with landowners to erect kestrel nesting boxes, and then manages their progress throughout the nesting season, ultimately banding fledged chicks.
Contact email: sayers.tom@gmail.com
Northwest and Northcentral CT Project, led by Art Gingert and Mike Dudek
This program began at the Miles Wildlife Sanctuary, (now part of Sharon Audubon Center), in 1977, and today includes more than 80 nest boxes, mounted and monitored throughout northwest and north central Connecticut in 26 towns. The program was started by former Audubon wildlife biologist Art Gingert, who still volunteers his time as project leader, and monitors nest boxes throughout Connecticut.
Contact email: arthurgingert@gmail.com
Larry Fischer
Contact email: klfischer2@sbcglobal.net
- New Hampshire
Mark Manske associate
Contact email:
Steve Wheeler
Wheeler became interested in kestrels (then known as sparrow hawks) while in grad school, started putting up boxes statewide in 1974-75 and began banding around 1976. By then he was employed as a biologist with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, eventually becoming the Migratory Bird Biologist in the1980’s. He implemented and managed the State's Falconry Program and becoming a Master Falconer in the 1990’s. He’s continued to work with kestrels in his spare time and, since retirement, has expanded his statewide efforts.
Contact email: wheelerdecoy@comcast.net
Harris Center for Conservation Education, the kestrel contact is Phil Brown
The Harris Center — a donor-supported, non-profit organization — is a transformative force in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire. It promotes understanding and respect for the natural world.
Contact email: brown@harriscenter.org
- New York
Mark Manske in northern NY
Mark Manske started an American kestrel nest box study in 2002 with the following purposes: (1) to increase the local breeding kestrel population in the area (2) to educate the public on the importance of raptors and the plight of the kestrels and (3) to act as an environmental monitor. The project was linked with Manske's college-accredited biology course at Brasher Falls Central High School and with his Raptors of the Adirondacks course at Paul Smiths College. Manske's former students and current associates manage smaller kestrel nest box programs in other parts of New York State and in New Hampshire.
Contact email: adkraptors@slic.com
Manske associate in western NY
Contact email:
Manske associate in Washington Co.
Contact email:
NY Iroquois NWR and nearby WMAs by Carl Zenger
Zenger has volunteered at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge since 1997. In 2020 he received an award noting his contribution of more than 35,000 volunteer hours. Kestrel nest box installation and management on the refuge and nearby preserved lands have long been included in his volunteer work.
Contact email: cbzenger@gmail.com
- Vermont
Brian Lowe
Lowe has managed a kestrel nest box program in central Vermont for over 25 years.
Contact email: vtbirdguy@yahoo.com
VT Institute of Natural Science
Since 2021 the institute has monitored kestrel nest boxes, and banded nestlings in those boxes. Starting the 2023 season over 100 boxes were monitored in their network across both Vermont and New Hampshire.
website: Home - Vermont Institute of Natural Science (vinsweb.org)
Manske associate
Contact email:
- Maine
Maine Kestrel Nest Box Project, led by Marek Plater, Erynn Call and Gail Smith
Plater is a master raptor bander and retired falconer who initiated Maine’s kestrel nest box program in 2014. Supported by volunteers and in partnership with Erynn Call, the State Raptor Specialist, and Gail Smith, wildlife photographer and winter nest box maintainer, the project continues to expand. The effective paint roller technique has led to interesting band and resight information of incubating adults.”
Contact email: mplater@erols.com and erynn.call@maine.gov
Maine Natural History Observatory Nest Box Project
- Massachusetts
Joey Mason
Kestrel nest boxes were initially erected in southeastern Massachusetts in 1989 around cranberry bogs by Mike Maurer and Joey Mason. Mason has continued to maintain and monitor 28 to 38 nest boxes from this previous study since 2000, when "Keeping Company with Kestrels" (see below website) was established. Declines in occupancy have been severe during the life of the program.
Contact email: kestrel2000@comcast.net
website: The Kestrel Project – Keeping Company With Kestrels
Mike Maurer
Kestrel nest boxes were initially erected in southeastern Massachusetts in 1989 around cranberry bogs by Mike Maurer and Joey Mason. Maurer continues to monitor a subset of the boxes installed in the 1989 and afterwards but has experienced declines similar to those with Mason's boxes.
Contact email: treeswallow5@aol.com
Kestrel Land Trust
24 boxes were monitored in 2022 as part of the Kestrel Land Trust's kestrel nest box program that is now 10 years old. Assistance is also provided to Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary for four boxes located there.
Contact email: Chris Volonte chris@kestreltrust.org
website: Home - Kestrel Land Trust (kestreltrust.org)
Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary with Kestrel Land Trust assistance
Four kestrel nest boxes are located on sanctuary land in 2022. Monitoring assistance is provided by the Kestrel Land Trust.
website: Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary (massaudubon.org)
- Delaware
Jordan Brown with Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife
In 2016, the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife joined Delaware State Parks’ Brandywine Zoo to create what is now the Delaware Kestrel Partnership. The Partnership has installed more than 70 nest boxes on public and private lands. In addition to USGS aluminum bands placed on adults and chicks, as of 2021 the Partnership has begun applying yellow colored bands on kestrels, making them easier to read and making it easier to identify individuals.
Contact email: Jordan.Brown@delaware.gov
website: American Kestrel Monitoring and Management - DNREC Alpha (delaware.gov)
- New York City
The Raptor Trust (Bird Rehabilitation Center): located in northern NJ but receives kestrels mostly from NYC
A 501c3 not for profit organization dedicated to the fulfillment of three primary missions:
- To provide free care and assistance to injured, sick, or orphaned wild birds.
- To educate people about wild birds, especially birds of prey.
- To provide a humane example for others.
Contact email: csoucy@theraptortrust.org
Phone: 908-647-1091
website: The Raptor Trust – Bird Rehabilitation and Education Center