Benicia Kestrels

Sadly, the smallest Kestrel chick died this afternoon. It was surprising how quickly it succumbed, and so my first thought was that it got injured, because its sudden decline coincided with the first time I saw live prey (a large lizard) in the nest box. Although, looking back on the morning’s videos more carefully, it’s evident the chick was getting weaker. Because the smallest chick was developmentally so far behind the others, it likely was not yet being able to process and/or swallow the large prey pieces as the bigger chicks had begun to do. And, I had not seen the Mother Kestrel feeding piecemeal lately. So, it’s likely the smallest chick was just not getting enough food, even though prey deliveries were frequent. Another possible factor in the chick’s death is that it’s been especially cold the last few days, which the chick would have less resilience to if it was not getting enough food.

When I finally realized that the chick was in trouble, I did consult with the local wildlife rehabilitation center, Lindsay Wildlife. However, it was decided that the chick’s poor condition and chance of survival did not justify the disturbance that collecting it would cause to the nest. This turned out to be a good, albeit difficult, decision because it died less than an hour later. I follow the nest box cameras of Robert E. Fuller in the UK (if you don’t, check them out!), and I’m consoled a bit by the fact that his attempt to save a similarly weakened Kestrel chick was not successful (video timestamp about 0540).

The Kestrel parents delivered at least three live lizards to the nest today, and I wonder if that is purposeful and meant to begin training the chicks to hunt?