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COVID-19 Announcement
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Kestrel breeding is on, but pressure to monitor boxes is off

First and foremost, we hope this message finds you and your loved ones healthy and safe.

All across North America, migratory birds are arriving in our backyards after a long winter, setting up territories, and making their nests in preparation for a new generation of feathered friends to join us. American Kestrels are pairing up and many couples are already well into incubation with hatchlings on the way!

In recent weeks, we have received many questions regarding the status of our nest-monitoring program for the current breeding season in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We understand that everyone is dealing with many unprecedented pressures that may influence your ability and desire to monitor your nest boxes this season. We do love kestrels and data on kestrels, but YOUR health and safety is our greatest interest. We encourage you all to follow the recommendations of local and state officials and to make the decision you feel is best for you and your communities.

Therefore, we completely support you if you decide to take a break from monitoring this year. We do not want you to feel pressure or obligation from us to monitor your nest boxes given the current situation. We fully anticipate a decrease in submitted data for the 2020 season as a result of COVID-19. An option has been added to our data entry portal for you to let us know if a box is not being monitored or is being monitored less frequently because of concerns related to the pandemic. All you need to do is log-in as usual, select the relevant nest box from the “Observations” portal, and select the “COVID-19 cancellation” option that tells us this nest will go unmonitored or be monitored less frequently than usual (see screenshot below). If you have questions on how to use this, please email us at kestrelpartnership@peregrinefund.org.
Of course, if you are able to safely monitor your boxes, we welcome your data!

We are all in this together. We support you and send our best wishes for health and safety during these uncertain times.

Best wishes,
AKP Staff and Interns
American Kestrel Partnership Homepage
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