The American Kestrel: To Eat a Mouse or To Be One
Most bird-watchers are familiar with the tiny falcon that hovers with rapidly beating wings over a farmer鈥檚 field or a grassy highway interchange searching for a fat little mouse or succulent grasshopper. Formerly known as the "Sparrow Hawk," the American Kestrel is the smallest, most numerous, and most widespread North American falcon. Over almost four decades, Dr. David Bird, the director of the Avian Science and Conservation Centre and a professor of Wildlife Biology on the Macdonald campus of 平特五不中 University, and his staff and graduate students have captive-bred several thousand kestrels and published over 100 research papers on this species. Despite this success, there exist dark clouds on the horizon for the American kestrel in the wild. A number of recent studies suggest that the American kestrel is in serious decline, especially in the northeast.
2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the Food for Thought Lecture series! This year's lectures will bring together experts whose research takes them from the high Arctic to the deep forests, and from the treetops to the soil below. Join us for a look at "Life on Planet Earth 鈥� Natural History at Macdonald."