Live from the kestrel box

Two successful broods in the last three years: A pair of kestrels now regularly raises its offspring on our Fassberg Campus. But what does such a breeding and rearing process look like? Thanks to our kestrels box with integrated camera, we can now find out!

Built by our Carpentry and equipped with technology by our IT and Electronics Service, the new nesting box was ready for its tenants in mid-March. Not long after that, the pair of kestrels moved into the box high up on tower 6. On April 15, the female laid her first egg. You can now follow the life of our falcon family live here.

 

 

Good to know:
1. Differentiate male / female: You can recognize the male kestrel by its light grey head and light grey tail feathers with a black terminal band. The female is reddish-brown with dark horizontal bands on the back and tail.
2. Egg deposition: Kestrels usually lay three to five (a maximum of seven) eggs at intervals of one to two days. Our female started laying eggs on April 15.
3. Incubation & hatching: The “actual” incubation – mainly by the female – only begins from the second last or last egg so that all the chicks hatch at the same time if possible. During incubation, the male supplies the female with food, such as mice. The young then hatch after around 27 to 29 days.
4. Rearing: After about four weeks of rearing, the young take their first flight exercises – they fledge and become more independent step by step over the following weeks until they are ready to hunt independently and look for their own territory.  
5. Moving out: After fledging in June, the young falcons are no longer fed by their parents. Only sporadically do they spend the night in the “parental home” and the parents themselves only rarely drop by. Usually in July / August, the family band gradually dissolves and the offspring fly off into the big wide world.