Written By: Joseph Medica
On March 19th, the Green Bank Observatory and Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area hosted an event with the Deer Creek Defenders 4-H club in Green Bank to build bird boxes for the local bluebird and tree swallow population. These boxes were built to replace old boxes initially deployed by Dave Curry, the founder and main proponent of the citizen science program involving these boxes here on the Observatory grounds. The boxes that were replaced were either those deteriorated by the elements or knocked down by predators that got a little too greedy.
The lumber used to build these boxes was pre-cut by the GBO Works Area, and the pieces were labeled and drilled to make the boxes simpler to construct. Even the youngest bluebird enthusiasts that came to help out had no problems putting the boxes together! As they completed each box they left a little welcome message for the birds or signed their names on the boxes. Dave Curry helped us improve our design by cutting in little steps, or kerfs, on the inside of the boxes to make it easier for the baby birds to climb up to the entrance hole once they are ready to fly.
After the 20 bird boxes were completed, the GBO provided lunch by grilling up some hot dogs and once the volunteers had all eaten their fill, Dave Curry gave a presentation on the importance of cavity nesters, like bluebirds, tree swallows, and wrens, as well as how building these boxes helps the health of these populations. The presentation ended with a description of citizen science, and how using online data compilation programs like NestWatch (https://nestwatch.org/) can help researchers access data on bird populations of a variety of species across the country and track how our songbirds are doing.
