HMA Lunch & Learn Series: American Kestrels at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary

For HMA's May 2025 Lunch & Learn, we welcomed JF Therrien, Senior Scientist and Graduate Study Director at Hawk Mountain, who spoke about Monitoring American Kestrel populations at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, PA.

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is well known for its long-term population monitoring of North American raptors. In 1954, it launched the first American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) nest box program in the world. Over the years, the project grew and was replicated with innumerable networks of nest boxes scattered across the Americas. The network in place at Hawk Mountain
includes over 125 nest boxes monitored annually, some of which, at the very same location they were erected 60+ years ago. Combined with other methods, the nest box program allows a “peak under the hood” during the breeding season, a critical life history stage for this small colorful falcon. The long-term study of this iconic farmland raptor at Hawk Mountain has allowed a broad spectrum of discoveries from basic descriptions of diet, occupancy, site fidelity, clutch size and hatchability rates to advanced analyses of reproduction effort, growth and survival rates, all the way to genetic structure assessment as well as population dynamics and the factors associated with the observed ongoing temporal trends such as contaminant load, disease prevalence, and habitat use. Overall, this unique and invaluable long-term monitoring program assists in identifying conservation needs, helps orient efforts and acts as a model for conservation worldwide.

JF Therrien grew up in Sherbrooke (Canada), about 30 minutes from the border with Vermont. He has a Bachelor degree in biology from the Université de Sherbrooke (2003) and a Master degree in biology from the Université Laval, Canada (2006). He received his Ph.D. degree in biology at the Université Laval, Canada (2011). JF is the Senior Scientist and Graduate Study Director at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary since 2011 and is working on various aspects of raptor conservation science such as satellite tracking of rough-legged hawks, Turkey vultures and snowy owls, monitoring American kestrel breeding populations and monitoring raptor migration around the globe.

https://www.hawkmigration.org/
https://www.hawkcount.org/
https://www.hawkmountain.org/