If I Had a Hammer…or a Cordless Drill

OYBC members with completed nestboxes

Note from OYBC Advisor Gerry Brevoort: Recently, the Central Ohio chapter of OYBC began work on an ambitious community service project being spearheaded by OBYC Advisor Darlene Sillick. The students had been inspired by the tireless work of local birder Charlie Bombaci. Charlie manages the system of nest boxes at Hoover Nature Preserve and he had shared with the students his passion for Prothonotary Warblers on past bird walks.

Then the June 29th storm ripped through the Preserve this past summer. The area was decimated, with trees overturned and nest boxes destroyed. OYBC decided It was time for a payback to Charlie and a pay-forward for the birds. The mantra became “If we rebuild it, they will come!” The goal was now to build and install 60 nest boxes at Hoover – a tall order! Let’s let OYBC member Joey Tomei take it from there:

OYBC members with completed nestboxesOn Sunday, October 14 the Ohio Young Birders Club went to OYBC Advisor Susan’s house to build cedar nest boxes for Prothonotary Warblers. These boxes are replacements of the boxes that were destroyed last summer by a storm at the Hoover Nature Preserve.

We made several nest boxes, and it even exceeded our expectations! (We completed 40 boxes in 3 hours!) We built the boxes by using a drill and nails to attach pieces of wood together to form the nest box. We followed a written packet that contained the instructions to build the nest box. When we finished the nest boxes, we signed our names and added the date. After we finished making the nest boxes, we loaded them into a car to take them to a barn on Brand Road in Dublin to store them. When I got to the barn, I helped unload the nest boxes, and I placed the nest boxes in the barn in small stacks. I really enjoyed this activity and I look forward to making more nest boxes for other birds and places.

Editor’s Note: This was stage 1 of the project. Stay tuned for continued reports. You can see photos of this event here and here.

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