On a cool September afternoon, 10 student members from the Central Ohio Chapter of the Ohio Young Birders Club gathered at Berwick Alternative School on the east side of Columbus for their latest community service project. Berwick, a Columbus City School with an emphasis on science and math, has an inviting Outdoor Education Area– a perfect setting for the bird-feeding station the OYBC-ers were there to build.
With guidance from Amanda Conover of the Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative, who planned and oversaw the project, these students spent the next couple of hours with tools and feeders, baffles and poles, seed and suet. The OYBC members, ranging in age from 12 to 18, had a fun time creating something that will benefit the birds and share their passion for the great outdoors with so many other young people. Berwick’s 700+ students in preschool through 8th grade will now enjoy time outdoors, learning about birds and incorporating the feeding station into lesson plans in art, science, math, poetry, and other disciplines. The possibilities are endless!
This service project was funded in part by a grant from North Face, as well as donations and assistance from Wild Birds Unlimited in Dublin. The bird feeding station includes a dedication sign, letting the community know that this is a gift from the Central Ohio OYBC students. It is the second such bird feeding station constructed by our OYBC chapter at a local public school, and probably won’t be the last. As with the station at Indianola Alternative School in Clintonville, the school will now be visited by Susan Setterlin, an OYBC Advisor, who will present interactive lesson plans to students on topics such as migration and flight.
The young birders of the Central Ohio OYBC chapter are doing amazing things in the name of birds, conservation and education. And they accomplish it with dedication, sweat, joy, hard work, a sense of play, and a deep-seated passion. What an inspiring group of young people!
You can see photos from this project here, here, and here.
Gerry Brevoort is an advisor to the Central Ohio Chapter of the Ohio Young Birders Club.