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News Release MEDIA ADVISORY / June 11, 2009 Media Advisory What: Banding of 10-day-old American Kestrels as part of a Boise State University field study on population health and potential impacts of environmental stress When: 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, June 16 and 17 Where: Nesting boxes south of the Boise Airport on Cloverdale and Barker roads Most expectant mothers wouldn’t choose to give birth and raise their babies right next to busy roadways, but American Kestrels and many other bird species are doing just that in the Treasure Valley. With much of their natural habitat lost to urbanization, wild birds are taking advantage of manufactured nesting boxes, but the dynamic doesn’t always work. In recent years, continent-wide estimates of kestrel populations have shown a dramatic decline. Faculty and graduate students in Boise State University’s raptor biology program are hoping to find out why. As their 2009 field season unfolds, they are making frequent visits to about 100 nesting boxes in the area, hoping to understand whether environmental disturbances impact American Kestrel populations in a landscape governed by human use. Some of the boxes were erected more than 20 years ago at the behest of bird biologist Karen Steenhof, who worked for the U.S. Geological Survey and also taught at Boise State. When she retired in 2008, Steenhof passed the project on to a former Boise State raptor biology graduate student. Julie Heath was that student and now is an assistant professor of biological sciences at Boise State. While she and the researchers she advises on the project continue to study basic kestrel biology, as Steenhof did, they also are looking at stress mechanisms and according behavioral shifts, especially when it comes to reproduction. Graduate student and researcher Erin Strasser said some of the birds are building and abandoning nests, threatening the health of the population, and she and Heath are examining everything from road noise to hormones to research handling as underlying causes. The study is ongoing, and Heath hopes it will spur dialogue about conservation. Media interested in accompanying Heath and Strasser on a field assignment to check on nests and band new chicks should refer to the contact details below. Arrangements must be made in advance. For more information, contact Erin Ryan, communications specialist, at (208) 426-4910 or erinryan@boisestate.edu. Boise State University is “The New U Rising” with record student enrollment, new academic buildings, additional degree programs and a growing research agenda. Learn more at www.boisestate.edu.
Last reviewed on Thursday, June 11, 2009
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