5 American kestrels banded Thursday in Pen Argyl

PLAINFIELD TWP., Pa. — Kevin Kelly used a pair of pliers to carefully place some permanent jewelry around the tiny, delicate leg of a 3-week-old American kestrel.

"It got some bling, as Paul would say," joked Kelly, a bird bander and Waste Management employee, before explaining that the band will stay with the bird as it grows. "This leg is more plump than an adult's leg … This is probably bigger than its leg will ever be."Kelly, and the rest of the wildlife habitat team at WM Grand Central Environmental Education Center, are continuing an annual tradition started by Paul "Birdman" Karner well over a decade ago — banding the young birds with numbered bracelets. As North America's smallest falcon continues to be under threat due to habitat loss and other factors, the project at the Grand Central landfill in Northampton County provides invaluable information to researchers and bird enthusiasts.

"Kevin is my colleague here that has been doing the bird banding previously with our late friend Paul Karner, who many of you probably know," said Adrienne Fors, Waste Management's senior community relations specialist for the greater mid-Atlantic region. "You've seen him across the Lehigh Valley over the years – he has banded hundreds of American kestrels since the 70s."

Karner, a Master Federal Bird Bander who also raised and tagged monarch butterflies, died in March. He was 76.

Since he started the program, nearly 100 American kestrels have been banded at Grand Central.

Bird banding is a delicate task, and involves some short-term thievery. Using a ladder, Kelly climbed a pole to get to one of two kestrel boxes — the center also has 58 blue bird boxes, two wood duck boxes and one for a purple martin — scooping the fluffy chicks into a white bucket lined with padding before carrying them up a steep hill to a table.

Five kestrels — four males and one female — were banded Thursday, each with a unique number, during the event. The data is shared with The Peregrine Fund's American Kestrel Partnership, a network of community and professional scientists for kestrel conservation.

"We get a bunch of information from banding," Kelly said. "We get to see how long birds live. We get to see where they migrate. We get to see where they nest. We get to see where they disperse from."

Kestrels are about the size of a blue jay and nest in cavities, including holes in trees and boxes, officials said in a news release prior to the event. Unlike other falcons, kestrels capture their prey — small birds, rodents, reptiles and insects — on the ground, preferring a grassland habitat where they can hover over meadow areas and hunt.

Populations of kestrels, also called sparrow hawks, have been declining for years, with researchers pointing to habitat loss and pesticide use as contributing factors.

"Formerly one of our most plentiful birds of prey, the kestrel is declining across portions of its range, sometimes in devastating numbers," according to The National Audubon Society. "In recent decades, more than 90% of kestrels have disappeared from New England's pastoral landscapes.

"These rates of decline are on par with the painful losses suffered by the kestrel's larger cousin, the peregrine falcon, in the decades following World War II."

The American peregrine falcon was removed from the endangered species list in 1999, according to the National Park Service.

The chicks were quiet, their eyes wide as Kelly carefully fitted a band to each, dutifully recording the information into a notebook. The whole process took less than an hour, and only one or two of the small birds let out short squawks.

"I was taught to just try to be as detailed as I can," he said. "Double-check and triple-check the band numbers, because you want to make sure you have the right information."

Not long after Kelly banded the last chick, two birders at the event spotted the mother, banded two years ago in New Jersey, as she swooped across the field after finding the bird box empty.

"We have another box down on the property," Kelly said. "And there's a kestrel just starting to check it out now. So, she's late. These guys, they're going to be flying next probably next week sometime."