In March 2011, the OYBC Central Ohio Chapter started a service project to build and set up nest boxes. [You can read Aaron’s earlier article about the nest box building project and see photos for that event here.]Â The project received support from Columbus Metro Parks and funding from our chapter’s grant from North Face.
Building nest boxes was fun. Before we started the project, Darlene, one of our chapter’s advisors, taught us about the birds we were helping. The birds we wanted in our nest boxes were Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows. They are called secondary cavity nesters. We were helping these birds to find places to nest. We watched a movie of what happens inside a bluebird nest box. We even got to touch real birds that had been stuffed and were on loan from Ohio Wesleyan University.
Then we went to the basement to start building. There were seven kids, a lot of adults and seven power drills, so in no time we had nineteen birdhouses. Then we crammed them all into Darlene’s car.
We had finished the first part of our service project. We were halfway done! The next part was to put up our nest boxes at Glacier Ridge Metro Park in Plain City, Ohio.
It was March 19th, the day to put up the nest boxes we had made. When we got to Glacier Ridge, we saw a big field in front of us. Then we went over to meet everybody else. There were five young birders. There were park volunteers, parents, and advisors who were all happy to lend a helping hand. We met Dick Tuttle who is an experienced birder and also experienced at putting up nest boxes. Dick’s nickname is “Mr. Bluebird.”
Dick taught us to set up nest boxes according to a grid. A grid ensures that the boxes are far enough apart from each another so that they are appealing homes to the desired birds. Installing the boxes in a grid also catches people’s eyes as they move past it because the nest boxes align in many ways. We want visitors to the park to notice the nest boxes, get curious, and maybe learn a little something about the birds that live in them.
The first step in putting up the grid was to set where the first nest box was to be. Then we hammered a tall pole into the ground. Next we put on the baffle. Finally, we screwed on one nest box.
Meanwhile, another group was measuring out where the other nest boxes would go. We learned the Pythagorean Theorem can help make precise 90 degree angles. We measured 75 feet one way and then 75 feet another way, forming a right angle. Then we used the Pythagorean Theorem to get our right angle precise. From our first right angle we formed a box, and then we added a box onto that, always staking where nest boxes were to go. We had two teams, a measuring team and an assembly team. After a while we started to communicate more and that made the job much easier. We started to see one big square forming that was four boxes long and four boxes wide. Soon we were on our last nest box. When we had finished it, we stood back to admire our work. We had put up sixteen nest boxes. Suddenly, in flew two tree swallows!
Our nest boxes are next to a school at Glacier Ridge Metro Park’s north entrance. There is a paved path next to where we put our boxes, so even people with disabilities can come to see birds. At the end, I felt good because I knew that I had helped a lot of birds, as well as people with disabilities and kids in school who will come to enjoy the birds.
Aaron Tayal is a Student Member of the Central Ohio Chapter – Ohio Young Birders Club
Check out the photo gallery for this event.