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The expression bird on a wire conveys a sense of freedom mixed with risk
The American Kestrel embodies this phrase in the air these small Falcons enjoy limitless freedom while on the ground
Changing conditions put them at risk
Protecting these colorful flyers has become a mission for brand Smith. Okay, I'm brand Smith
And I volunteer for Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance, and I coordinate the Kestrel monitoring program
On summer days brand leads fellow volunteers in caring for Kestrels
We're citizen scientists. I call ourselves the amateurs
But the professionals like scientists they can tell us what information they want us to gather and hopefully they can determine the reasons why
Their numbers are declining. It's opened our eyes as far as just how much we as
Humans can either help or hurt nature out there. The bird Alliance has put up some 200 Kestrel nesting homes
Across southern, Wisconsin and brand and his crew are making house calls hold us
And we might need to stretch it out just a little bit more
It starts with the sneak peek using an endoscope
You see the three eggs? Yeah, okay
good
Then it's the newly hatched they're seeking
If you look in when they're five days old all you'll see is a pile of fluff
To get up close brand climbs the ladder and expertly extracts the chicks
Then the science begins
We're documenting when we see the eggs when they hatch how old they are and when they fledge
For age the chicks are compared to a photo book of day-by-day development. Okay, I'm looking here. Let's go one more
Let's go with 16 days
The birds are carefully weighed 139
and banded
We put identification bands on the birds. Now you have no how much they weigh the band. How much is that way?
very little
And what that is for is to help determine migration how old they live to be
See how the the band will slide up and down on its leg so that leg won't get any bigger and it'll stay there its entire life
Would someone like to hold this one under an umbrella? Yes
Then the volunteers experience their own close encounter literally holding the kestrel's life in their hands
I could feel a very strong heartbeat
I'm in seeing its its beak how developed it is and the little tongue and everything. So yeah, it was it was very cool. Yeah
See that tongue is me so that the food goes back down the throat
As much as the group enjoys seeing kestrel's up close
Brands thrill comes from watching the volunteers
The part that I really like is seeing the people that just brighten
Most of the visitors that were here today have probably never seen a kestrel
And here that we're able to see nestlings. So it's really just seeing faces light up
Kids here they were really light up
Just being able to see them experience something that brings them joy
Learn about nature and what's out there. It just brings a warmness to my heart
And really that's the part of our education as a group
Exposing them to things that are outside that we're able to see something they've never seen before
And through their work help ensure kestrel's will be seen long into the future
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