© 2007 Heather Dieter Bartmann ....Science Art-Birds
Title: Windswept
Species: American Kestrel ( Falco sparverius )
Artist: Heather Dieter Bartmann
Image size: 00" x 00"
Media: acrylic
Date: 2007
Private collection
The artist notes: "February was windy this year. Still, the dogs expected the morning walk so off we trudged, staggering against the gusts. Ahead, the kestrel clung to a steel fence post. We paused as he saw us, let go, and was instantly swept eastward out over the corn field. He made a vigorous attempt to head back into the wind but finally abandoned flight and grabbed hold on his lowly perch. The pair of kestrels have nested successfully in a nest box on a utility pole in the area."
American Kestrel numbers rose dramatically with the historical conversion of North American forest habit, but today conservationists are trying to explain the 30-year decrease recorded in migration counts, the Breeding Bird Survey, the Christmas Bird Count, and regional nest box programs. The decrease in this partial migrant (a species with some populations that do not migrate from their breeding range) might point to pesticides, the return of open habitat to forest, predation by expanding populations of Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii), and West Nile Virus. The population decline--at this stage, an early warning--allows researchers time to take action while the species is still prevalent, but since these birds are thought to be limited by the availabiliy of prey and weather, the effects of global climate change could be especially significant.
