Linking Science, Citizen Conservation, and Land Management to Recover the Southeastern American Kestrel in Florida
Register via Mobilize and arrive at 6:30 PM for our social.
Can’t make it in person? Register for the Zoom program. You will receive a reminder the morning of the meeting date.
The American Kestrel's preference for open habitats has made it a symbol of wildlife on rural American lands. Unfortunately, the species has declined by 82% since the 1970s. This includes the nonmigratory genetically distinct subspecies known as the Southeastern American Kestrel (SEAK), one of only 32 birds listed as Threatened by Florida Fish and Wildlife. Our multi-partner collaboration is answering unaddressed questions about habitat needs in relation to parental feeding rates, nesting success in natural cavities vs nest boxes, nest predation, first-year survival, dispersal, home range areas, and the best strategies for using nest boxes to increase reproductive rates. Vital opportunities for public involvement occur at all stages of the SEAK recovery process.
Kestrel peering out from a nest cavity.
Kestrel incubating eggs in an artificial nest cavity.
Photographing a nestling after it’s been weighed, measured, and banded.
Dr. Ken Meyer, Senior Research Ecologist and Executive Director for the Avian Research and Conservation Institute (ARCI).
Ken Meyer obtained his B.S. degree in Zoology from the University of Maine, Orono, in 1977; and his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1987. From then until 1996, he studied imperiled birds as a post-doctoral and then research associate in the University of Florida’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, and as a research biologist with the National Park Service. Since 1996, he has served as a Courtesy Associate Professor in the University of Florida’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. Meyer co-founded Avian Research and Conservation Institute (ARCI) in Gainesville, Florida, in 1997. Since then, he has held the positions of Senior Research Ecologist and Executive Director at ARCI. While conducting 44 years of avian field research and monitoring and producing management and conservation recommendations, Meyer and his team have studied the behavior and ecology of 21 species of birds of conservation concern in North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean Basin.
American Kestrel, Hawthorne, Florida, by Jeff Smith/Audubon Photography Awards
