Kestrels (common or european kestrels) stay with us in our flat in a housing estate in the suburb of Brno for a long time. Initially they used our balcony only as a shelter and dormitory, but since the fire in 2006, the situation changed. Starting with the 2007 season kestrels are nesting here. History of nesting can be found here. Photo and video archive here.
After the reconstruction, which lasted from April 2016 to March 2017, and brought a lot of complications, kestrels are again appearing here and since March 2017 they regurarly spend here the night. They decided not to nest here in 2017, but they considered again our balcony for their territory and defend it against intruders (especially other kestrels and pigeons). Our balcony seems to have remained an attractive place for nesting too. The kestrels nest here again since 2018. Only the place has changed. Originally it was a corner on the balcony floor, now it is a box on the shelves near the door.
A second pair of kestrels could be observed on the opposite side of the house since 2009. They tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to nest in the ventilation hole of the pantry of the apartment one floor below. In 2025, we installed a camera trap and watched them, as they nevertheless raised at least two chicks. The following year in 2026 we installed flower boxes for them on the windowsill of our kitchen. We’ll see if the kestrels use them for nesting.
Mice (primarily common vole) penetrated this site as the basic ingredient of the kestrels diet. Since 2009 also a house (lab) mouse (currently already the sixteenth one) lives with us and fulfills the challenging task of a kestrel mascot. The history of these mice mascots can be found here.
Swifts (common swifts) are the closest neighbors of “our” kestrels and since 2017 they use the new nestboxes attached high on the wall above our windows. A short swift history can be found here.
Our webcams let you track the life of “our” kestrels and other visitors of our balcony. During the swifts breeding season one camera is focused also on their nestboxes.
You can watch them here.
What is the technical background?
Also our cameras have their history.
The first year we bought the first camera. Today there are already twenty one. Their list with basic parameters and actual previews can be found here .
Recording is ensured by Surveillance Station on Synology NAS.
About our webcams
List of our webcams
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