The crisis for cavity-nesting birds

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. We know about the crisis of people without homes but there is also a crisis for cavity-nesting birds. Lots of people put up and maintain bluebird nesting boxes – but there’re a total of fifty-five North American birds who must have those spaces to raise their young, including the kestrels I admire on my commute. The Columbia Audubon Society is installing boxes for kestrels in several Calhoun County sites hoping to discover if these migratory birds may stay in our state to nest. They do overwinter at Fort Jackson but that’s a massive area and whether or not they’ll use smaller sites isn’t known. At my birding friends Ann Nolte and Hank Stallworth’s land-trust-protected property, this group has put up boxes and checks to see what’s using them.