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The Avian Landlord

By Damian Fagan

Preparing to band a kestrel nestling. By Damian Fagan

"If you build it, they will come" holds true here in Central Oregon. I am referring to the housing boom where one can literally deposit a nest egg.

Thanks to Don McCartney, a retired CPA from Portland, Oregon, and his wife, Carol, this housing project is for the birds. Chickadees, nuthatches, bluebirds, and American kestrels are the tenants of his rent-free dwellings. Some, like the kestrel boxes, come furnished with a 2- to 3-inch layer of wood shavings and bedding pellets. Others are unfurnished, but clean.

Don is an active landlord -- he checks up on his tenants and provides property maintenance as needed. He gets to know the families and watches the offspring develop. He laments those that do not make it and scratches his head when the tenants move out without a forwarding address. Occasionally he has to play the heavy and evict some freeloading starlings, squirrels, or woodrats that move in without an agreement. But he could not expel the mountain bluebirds that built a grass nest inside one of the kestrel boxes.

After finishing his property maintenance in fall, he waits for new arrivals. Most of his business is word-of-bill, which cuts down on advertising, although he has found that an open-door policy, free of debris and of the right size, is the best way to attract renters.

Don McCarthy checks a kestrel box. By Damian Fagan

Around March, the tenants are back, announcing their return with shrill calls and exaggerated wing flapping. Nothing like newlyweds to liven up the spring rental season! Don waits for the nuptial activity to simmer down before he comes knocking. He likes to relay information about these first visits to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Birdhouse Network, especially "first egg laid" dates. In 2005, Don had 62 active nest boxes that fledged a total of 196 young.

Don started with six kestrel boxes that he placed in the fire-ravaged Delicious Burn on the Deschutes National Forest in Central Oregon back in 1998. That year, five fledglings were ringed with Fish and Wildlife Service bands by Jim Anderson, a bander from Sisters, Oregon. Since then Don’s housing authority area has spread from Sisters to Bend, and from juniper woodlands up to ponderosa pine forests.

In 2006 Don figured he had "about 100" active kestrel boxes. Some are the standard size, constructed from an eight foot, one-by-ten cedar board. However, Don has noticed that his tenants do not mind a smaller entrance opening, as long as it keeps out those freeloading starlings. So he started making units out of one-by-eight cedar boards.

And as a resourceful landlord, Don has learned to approach local construction sites with a nest box in hand. This tends to expedite the conversation and request for scrap wood. Don then cuts the scrap wood into useful sizes and builds his nest boxes.

Don's primary focus is on providing rental units for the kestrels, but public outreach is a side benefit that provides opportunities for school groups or individuals to learn about this housing project first-hand. "When kids come out and see the banding process, they often 'catch the bug' and become more aware about the environment," Don explains. "We’ve never yet had a bored kid at one of these bandings." Though his tenants may squawk at these unannounced visits, Don says its just part of leasing agreement.

To view data summaries for species utilizing nest boxes, visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Birdhouse Network here.

Don’s kestrel nest-box project is now sponsored by the East Cascades Bird Conservancy. For more information, check their website here.

Damian Fagan is a bird watcher from Bend, Oregon.