McGill University
Candidat B.Sc.
superviseur(e): Kyle Elliott
Simon Reader
Barbara Frei, ECCC
Début: 2025-09-15
Fin: 2026-04-30

Projet

American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) Breeding Success Along an Urban Gradient
American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) are confronted with time constraints for effective breeding in Northeastern Canada. In contrast, southern regions experience less precipitation and a more favourable climate, allowing them to breed later. Since the 1970s, American Kestrels have experienced a steady decline, and extensive research has been conducted in attempts to identify the primary factors contributing to it. American Kestrels are important generalist predators of open landscapes, controlling the populations of small rodents, birds and invertebrates. They are also valuable for pest control and serve as bioindicators. Their conservation is important for maintaining ecosystem balance and monitoring environmental health. Using five years of nestbox survey data from southern Quebec, the objective of this study is to provide a time-to-event analysis to identify factors influencing American Kestrel nesting failure and success through an urban gradient. This will be done by creating a nest survival model using the program MARK (RMARK). I hypothesize that urban density will affect the breeding success of American Kestrels, and I predict that breeding success will decrease with increasing urban density due to conflicts with novel threats and increased competition with the invasive European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). Ultimately, this research aims to guide adaptive management strategies that optimize nest box placement for improved breeding success of American Kestrels in northeastern North America.