About a dozen students gathered at Nampa Campus Academic Building (NCAB) on Feb. 12 for Raptor Day, a campus community event sponsored by the Biology Club at College of Western Idaho (CWI). Students built two American Kestrel nest boxes to supplement existing boxes on campus.
The event highlighted the important role raptors, or birds of prey, play in the ecology of campus and throughout the greater Treasure Valley. Students left with a deeper appreciation for the value these birds bring to local ecosystems.
The American Kestrel Nest Box Project has been active at the College for approximately 10 years. It was founded by a former Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and is now supervised by Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, Gary Heller, along with two Work-Study students each semester.
While the team is not able to follow kestrels through fledging, several nest boxes are used by raptors each spring and have produced healthy clutches of eggs. Monitoring will continue this semester with Work-Study students, Marcus Grigsby and Lila Jensen.
Students also enjoyed pizza and refreshments while watching a documentary about raptors. The Biology Club officers and CWI students, Nathan Walker, Danny Wheeler, Violette Anghel, Sheyenne Casebolt, and Emily Houle, planned and hosted the event.
Community members are encouraged to keep a distance of at least 100 feet from American Kestrel nest boxes during the spring and summer nesting season to avoid disturbing the birds.
For more information on the Biology Club and future activities, contact bioclub@cwi.edu.
