Breeding Rock
Kestrels at a Hospital!?
The first documented
case of double brooding Rock Kestrels in Southern Africa
For me, September of 1993 heralded one
of the most exciting experiences any birder could possibly hope for.
We succeeded in enticing a pair of Rock Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus rupicolus)
to breed in a nesting box which we in fact prepared for a pair of Peregrine
Falcons frequenting the hospital. The Peregrines devoured their prey and
were very noisy on the window sill of my office on the tenth floor of
the Tygerberg Teaching Hospital in Parow, Western Cape. This happened on
almost a daily basis and we attempted to get them to breed in a wooden
box in one of the windows of the department. This box previously housed
a redundant air conditioner and we changed it into a potential nesting
site for the peregrines. It was open to the outside and we used coarse
river sand and moss on the floor and installed a side window for easy viewing
and photography.
The Peregrines were not interested
but to our utmost joy, a pair of Rock Kestrels (the resident Southern African
race of the Common or European Kestrel - Falco Tinnunculus) moved in and
immediately started to breed. In a single season these Kestrels raised
not one, but two broods - a total of 7 healthy fledgelings! This had never
been seen in the Southern African race before and we published our findings
in "Birding in Southern Africa", Vol. 46 no. 4, September 1994
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