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<br />AMSx=caa aseTaaLe ne Bioxxnsca-roae <br />1. ![athoda <br />A total of about 350 American Kestrel (Falco svarverius) <br />nest boxes had been placed in the IPM and Mormon cricket study <br />areas in 1987 (see APPENDIX III) for study of this species <br />nesting success. The boxes were placed too late in the nesting <br />season for use by Restrels. In 1988, the nest boxes were checked <br />biweekly in Idaho, North Dakota, and the Front Range group of <br />Colorado. The Colorado Dinosaur National Monument (DNM) boxes <br />were checked only near the end of the breeding season. Data were <br />collected on species using each box and number of eggs or young <br />present. Weights of young were taken at least once at all <br />locations. Food remains were visually examined near the <br />completion of nesting and samples were collected at most Kestrel <br />nests. All young and adult American Kestrels captured while <br />checking boxes were banded with official USF&WS bands. When a <br />European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) nest was found while <br />checking boxes, the Starling nest was removed and the box was <br />cleaned for use by Restrels or other avian species. In some <br />cases Restrels eliminated breeding Starlings before we checked <br />the boxes and made their own nests on top of the flattened <br />starling nests. <br />2. ~-nalvaia <br />Nesting productivity of the American Restrel and the <br />Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides), where it occurred, were <br />estimated from data collected at occupied boxes. American <br />Restrel nesting productivity was examined for each area and <br />analyzed using PC-SAS (SAS, 1987). Growth of young Kestrels were <br />analyzed for Idaho and North Dakota only. Samples of food <br />remains collected from the boxes after young had fledged have not <br />been analyzed at the present time. <br />Colorado - Front Rangg <br />No treatments for grasshopper control are made in this area. <br />Data were collected on the breeding success of the American <br />Kestrer in an area that has had no known grasshopper control in <br />the past 9 years. Of the original 61 boxes in place at the end <br />of 1987, 60 were available for use during the 1988 nesting year <br />(Table 1). Sixteen Restrel nests were started in these boxes. <br />Eight of the nests had been started in unoccupied boxes and the <br />other eight were in units that had Starling nests removed. Five <br />additional nest boxes were established bringing the total boxes <br />available in 1989 to 65. <br />1 <br />