This article is a combination of a front page story in the FREE PRESS/HERALD and an online story.

Each spring for the past 10 years, Onskie has observed American  kestrel falcons nesting nearby. Shortly thereafter, Nu-Sun partnered with American Kestrel Partnership and Boise State University in Idaho on a project to capture images and data on the birds. Researchers and citizen scientists are involved in this project across North America due to long term declines in kestrel populations in numerous regions since  1966. Mating habits, egg laying, climate information and more is all  tracked and shared online.

"We’ve been supplying them with data since we started this,"  Onskie said. "We’ve even done feather samples for DNA testing in 2017."

This year, the pair of kestrels returned north a little earlier than usual, around March 13.

"It was really weird this year," Onskie said. "Typically, the male is here first, or they’re here together. This year the female was here first. But, the male has showed up on the same day three years in a row, to the day - March 23. He even knew to give himself an extra day this year, it being leap year. That’s pretty incredible."

The pair of rare birds have been nicknamed Lady Winnipeg and Mr. Manitoba by Laurie D., a loyal American visitor to Nu-Sun’s Kestrel Korner website.

"The possibility of these being the original pair is highly doubtful, but they may be offspring," Onskie admitted. "But they know the boxes are here."

To date, activity around the two custom-built nesting boxes has involved the pair getting acquainted, or reacquainted, whichever the case might be.

"There have been some mating rituals and so forth," Onskie said.  "It’s all about the courtship right now. There were two females in a nest box the other day, and they were fighting over the boxes."

The smallest falcon in North America, American kestrels are a fascinating study for birders.

"They’re incredible birds," Onskie said. "Their eyesight is so keen, they can even pick up urine trails of the mice and voles. They can detect slight movements."

As cavity nesters, the American kestrel will use a hollowed out  part of a tree or something similar in the wild. As such, Onskie’s boxes are prime real estate for the birds.

"We put in aspen shavings, dustless and sterilized," he said. Each box is rigged up with two high-definition cameras for a top and side view. "This year, we redesigned our boxes to make them less  invasive," Onskie explained. "Now, we can clean the cameras and have access to the cameras, and they’ll never see us."

A female fledgling American kestrel photographed just north of Kilcona Regional Park. Nu-Sun Cinema’s Kestrel Korner web site tracks and reports on a pair of birds who have taken up residence in the area.

Nu-Sun Cinema’s nesting American kestrel live stream has been a popular feature on the local nature photographer’s web site for 10 years. The project is a partnership with Boise State University in Idaho, whose researchers study the birds.