YAKIMA – “There’s one right there!” Ben Dover points up through the bare branches of a winter-pruned cherry tree.
Beyond the tree, his finger follows a small, speeding black shape, a bird ascending a hundred feet or more, then down until, at the last second, it swoops skyward again.
It’s a joyful display. But for the American kestrel we are watching, it is a ritual of survival. The small falcoln is hunting, scanning the orchard floor for rodents.
Kestrels – sometimes called sparrowhawks – see ultraviolet light, which allows them to track rodents by their urine trails. It is a bit of lore Dover has learned since launching Orchard Guard, a small business that uses the area’s kestrel population to defend the Yakima Valley cherry crop against hungry birds.
It’s estimated that 10 percent of the valley’s annual crop is lost to birds. Dover put his own losses at 20 percent before hearing about kestrels from Lee Stream, retired program manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Stream suggested that Dover install a nesting box in his 5-acre orchard west of Yakima. If kestrels took up residence, said Stream, they might be a deterrent.
That’s because rodents aren’t all that kestrels eat. “I’ve seen them kill a bird right in midair,” says Dover as the robin-sized falcon pirouettes overhead.
So he built the box, set it up, and forgot about it. “That spring, I got up there to clean out my wind machine – there’s always bird nests in there – and I was really surprised. There wasn’t a single nest.”
That’s when he noticed the kestrels. A pair had mated and moved into the nest box. Starlings, robins and other birds that normally would be after Dover’s cherries steered clear of the orchard.
“Kestrels are very territorial,” Dover said. “They’ll keep robins from building nests in your orchard. Once a robin builds a nest, it’s hard to keep them out.”
Neighbors Mark Barrett and Henner Krueger nod as Dover goes on about the virtues of kestrels. Barrett, who farms 65 acres of fruit trees, mostly cherries, has seven nest boxes scattered about his acreage. They’re not 100 percent effective, but kestrels cut down on bird damage, and the boxes are a lot cheaper than the overhead nets some cherry growers deploy against the birds.
Last year – Dover’s first in business – he built and sold 120 of the boxes, which are about 18 inches high, 8 inches wide and 8 inches deep.
Dover has sold 150 so far this year, not just in the Yakima Valley but also in Oregon and north central Washington.
Barrett figures kestrels more than earn their keep. “If the box is working as it should, it can save a ton of cherries,” he said.
That can mean savings of $3,000.
“If you save one box of cherries, it’s paid for itself,” Dover said.
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