S2S Update on The Great American Kestrel Project at Manassas Battlefield Park in Virginia.

Here is an exciting update on our American Kestrel Project at Manassas Battlefield Park. Below you will find a newsletter detailing our work and discussing our exciting Bioblitz which will take place on April 26, 2025 at the park. An amazing team of park officials, veterans organizations, and master naturalists has come together to plan this event, and S2S is excited to see our hard work take shape into an incredible event. Please see additional details below!

On April 26th from 9am-12pm, Blue Star Families’ Outdoor Explorers for All program is partnering with Soldiers2Scientists to host a unique citizen science experience at Manassas National Battlefield. This event will serve 15 military families participating in the Blue Star Families 'Outdoor Explorers for All' program, providing them with hands-on learning opportunities led by a professional falconer, Soldiers2Scientists representatives, and 14 Master Naturalists. Families will participate in quadrant scavenger hunts throughout the park, where they’ll explore local ecosystems, contribute to citizen science projects, and deepen their connection to the natural world.

S2S has put together this Citizen Science Bioblitz to coincide with Citizen Science Month, the City Nature Challenge and American Battlefield Trust’s Park Day. S2S has spent the last year installing and prepping 20 American kestrel research nest boxes with a local falconer and permitted bander. The American kestrel has been in significant decline for decades. This work is intended to provide sustainable habitat and help rebuild their populations. But this work relies on science to succeed. We are focused on better understanding kestrel nestbox success in the park, and to that end, we thought an updated biodiversity inventory would assist in the kestrel research.