Xcel Energy Kestrel Cam
Photo caption
Kestrel Cam
Active: March - June
Pawnee Power Station, Brush, CO
Our Kestrel Cam features a special nest box installed at Xcel Energy’s Pawnee Station in Brush, Colorado. The box is installed atop the plant’s boiler structure, about 250 feet above the ground. Local, Mountain Standard Time (MST), is used for these images, which refresh every two minutes. Photos are archived for the day in the Daily Pix section.
Daily Pix
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Latest News
The kestrels at Pawnee Station have nested. The two future parents have settled into incubation mode, with a fifth and final egg laid on April 5. We expect to see chicks the first week of May.
Visits to the kestrel box are sporadic right now, but we hope to see nesting soon. Morning seems to be the best time to see a kestrel visiting the box.
The Kestrel Cam was turned on this week in time to catch this female kestrel checking out the nest box at Pawnee Station in Brush, CO. Hopefully, she liked what she saw -- it's a positive sign for things to come. Last year the kestrels nested in late March.
It's still very early for Kestrels. We plan to turn on the camera in early March.
At this time, there is no kestrel activity to report from Pawnee Station. We expect to see birds begin visiting the nest in March. The kestrel couple living in the box last year successfully raised five birds.
About Kestrel Cam
This color camera is installed through the roof of the nest box and captures an image of the kestrels at an angle from overhead. The birds can enter the box through a special opening, an oblong hole versus round, which allows light in the box as the birds come and go. The box also is painted white to help brighten the image and showoff the kestrels’ vivid colors.
Kestrel Facts
- American Kestrels are colorful birds with distinctive double black markings on their white faces. Their backs are rust colored and their heads have blue plumage. Male kestrels have grayish blue wings while the females' wings are rust colored.
- They are raptors - birds of prey.
- As their name implies, they are found in the Americas, both North and South. Their habitat includes farm areas, prairies, wooded streams and deserts.
- American Kestrels are frequently seen along roadsides, perched on utility poles. They need a perch to hunt and have the ability to hover, with their wings flapping, something other falcons don’t do. They also are speedy and can fly as fast as 40 mph.
- For years they were called sparrow hawks. They were renamed because they are not true hawks, and are rarely called sparrow hawks anymore.
- American Kestrels don’t make their own nests, but rely on empty magpie nests, cavities and holes in trees or cactus, nest boxes and niches in buildings.
- Females will lay three to five, whitish, spotted eggs that require an incubation of about 28-29 days. Young kestrels will be ready to leave the nest 4-5 weeks after hatching.
- They eat small rodents and insects, but also have been known to eat amphibians, snakes, other birds and worms.
- The American Kestrel is the smallest species of falcon found in the Americas. Full-grown male kestrels weigh only about 4 ounces and measure 9 to 12 inches in length. Females are generally larger than males.
- They don’t seem to dislike the cold and may winter over in their home territory while other birds are migrating south.
