American Kestrels

Two American kestrels are nesting in a gravel-bottomed nest near Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. Their nest box, located on the side of a traditional limestone-footed barn, overlooks a rolling grassland that slopes away into the folded hills and forests of the Driftless. A nearby stream cuts through deeply incised limestone to join the Mississippi river four miles west of the nest. This wonderful combination of grassland, forest, and water has supported kestrels for over 25 years and is an excellent example of the habitat that kestrels need to survive and thrive.

These cameras are brought to you by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the Raptor Resource Project. To learn more about American kestrels, follow this link: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Kestrel.
Outdoor Kestrel CamIndoor Kestrel Cam
The kestrels have fledged and we turned the indoor camera off. Watch the outdoor cam for a glimpse of the adults and fledglings. Thanks so much for watching this year!

The kestrels chose a different location in 2023 and will not be online. If you’d like to see American kestrels, please watch our Pawnee cam: https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/xcel-energy-cams/ (and scroll to the bottom of the page).

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In general, the kestrels return to their box in February or March. Egg-laying begins in April or May, and eggs hatch roughly 26 to 32 days after they are laid. The young fledge between 28 and 31 days of age. Like peregrine falcons and bald eagles, American kestrel fledglings remain near the nest before dispersing in late summer. They eat invertebrates, small rodents, and birds including grasshoppers, cicadas, beetles, dragonflies, spiders, butterflies and moths, voles, mice, shrews, small songbirds, small snakes, lizards, and frogs. To learn more about American Kestrels, please visit our partner Cornell Lab of Ornithology at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Kestrel/lifehistory.

American Kestrel Video Playlist


Click the icon at the top right of the stream to view a full list of videos from our 2022 playlist, or visit our playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeNR2ocnlCOcIZ3xl1Fa8eGwZQfgSXtrH