Just thought I'd relate this interesting event from a couple of years back.
At the Science Museum there is a large outdoor staircase that leads from the Kellogg Plaza down to the Shepard Road level. At points along that suspended staircase, there are streetlights. At the base of each streetlight, there is a metal box with a round hole on one of the vertical faces (presumably where the electrical wires would enter if these streetlights were put in the ground). Since these streetlights were up in the air, mounted to the staircase, that left a sturdy box with a hole on the side suspended way above the ground. ANYWAY...one spring about three years ago, someone noticed a couple of kestrels checking out the base of one of these streetlights...perhaps as a possible nest site. For several days we would see a kestrel enter the hole and then turn around with its head sticking out. We were really rooting for it to choose that site but after a few days they decided it wasn't suitable. In subsequent years I haven't seen any similar behavior but I think I'll look again since folks have been noticing kestrels hanging around the Museum over the past couple of days. Adele Binning
