Falcons using orchard nest boxes reduce fruit-eating bird abundances and provide economic benefits for a fruit-growing region

1. Suppression of pest species via a native predator is a regulating ecosystem service that has the potential to limit crop damage and produce economic benefits. American kestrels (Falco sparverius) are widespread, highly-mobile, generalist predators that hunt in human-dominated habitats and potentially provide previously undocumented ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes.
2. We hypothesized that kestrel activity associated with nest boxes and artificial perches acts to increase perceived predation risk that, in combination with direct predation, can reduce fruit-eating bird abundances in orchards. We used counts and observations of fruit-eating birds from fixed-width transect surveys to investigate variation in bird abundances and to estimate sweet cherry loss in cherry orchards with and without active kestrel boxes. We also conducted a benefit-cost analysis of nest box installation and used regional economic modelling to estimate macroeconomic impacts of increased sweet cherr...