Lauria McShane

People often ask me how Kestrels react to our monitoring cameras…well I guess you can say it depends on the individual 😂 Pic one is a mom sleeping while incubating. Pic two is a mom ready to fight while incubating!

#birds #kestrels

Peep two Kestrel eggs from today’s box checks!
#birds #AmericanKestrel

It’s Kestrel box checking season and we already have nesting attempts. Today we caught this lovely banded lady in a box we put up just a few short weeks ago! 🥚🐣
#birds

Male House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)

Female House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)

Ruby Crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Golden catkins and a chorus of bird songs are catching the breeze today at Ivy Creek. The long awaited signs of spring are sneaking up but not fast enough!
#birds

This past weekend we trained some of our local Master Naturalists how to monitor boxes to expand our coverage of almost 600 kestrel boxes. Go team! 👏
#birds

I keep them in a paper bag outside but out of the rain so that they are stratified. They will be going into pots soon so that we can grow them up!

Collecting Mountain Laurel (kalmia latifolia) seeds during our trail ride to help preserve the genetics of our local ecotypes! #nativeplants #sevenbendsnursery

Pale Corydalis (Corydalis sempervirens)

Mountain Laurels! (Kalmia sp.)

Hairy Beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus)

Dreaming of pinks and purples as temperatures rise above freezing 🌸🪻 #nativeplants #Virginia

What a beautiful view we had installing this kestrel box yesterday! Just past the mountain line lies Shenandoah National Park🏔️💚 #birds #beautifulVirginia

A barn mount for our 15th kestrel box install this winter! #birds

They are gorgeous birds!

Male and female Eastern Towhees (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) on the Humpback Rock trail in June #birds

In honor of Virginia’s wildflower of the year, Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), here is a picture of a beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) resting on the leaves of a Mayapple in the old growth forest of Sweet Briar college 🦋🍏 #nativeplants

The trusted steed needs treats to fuel her seed collecting journeys 🐴🍪 #horses

Yellow rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata)

Backyard friends!

The winter winds may have been whipping through the fields but another Kestrel Box has been installed! This time at a historic battlefield in Virginia. #birds #nativebirds #conservation

#nativeplants

There is something magical about seed heads in the light of a winter’s afternoon 🌾 if you look closely you can spot someone’s chrysalis!

Sure was!

#birds

Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) non-native

Female Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)

Nonbreeding Male Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)

Ducks and swans from this year’s visits to the marsh! 🦆🦢

A wonderful sight over the marsh! 🦅 #birds

An overcast day at the beach with some active Ring-billed Gulls 🌊
#birds

Most of the time working with grasslands birds is actually spent with cows and hay more than with birds themselves! One of my first days on the job was spent meeting my local farmers to learn about their rotational grazing practices that promote grassland bird populations 🐦‍⬛🐄🖤 #grasslandbirds

#birds

Learning how to band under my supervisors this spring!

We band kestrels for many reasons but one of the most exciting reasons is so we can piece together their travels.

Earlier this year we had a kestrel all the way from Pennsylvania nest in a kestrel box in northern VA #bird #birdbanding

#birds

Pileated Woodpecker dancing his way around the forest at Sweet Briar College💃🕺

Ever wonder what’s going on in a kestrel box? Well here is a sneak peak! Boxes are checked quickly once every two weeks with an endoscope to track nesting success. #birds #conservation #kestrels

How funny! I can’t say that I have ever seen a kestrel eat water dwelling creatures. What a shot!