Calgary area birdhouse building with youth
posted by Andrew Stiles @ 2:13 pm
1 Comments
When I was in Grade Four, a trip to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary inspired me to begin a lifelong effort to help save the Mountain Bluebird. Inquiring about a stack of birdhouses there, I learned that because introduced Starlings and House Sparrows have displaced our native birds from their traditional nesting sites, they needed more homes. Building my first 50 boxes out of scrap plywood took me an entire winter using hand tools. That spring I was on my way to becoming a bluebird trail monitor thanks to mentoring by Inglewood's naturalists, but success was slim with only one nest! Undeterred, I built fifty more boxes and increased my bluebird percentage to 20! After quitting in Junior High because of peer pressure, I resumed with the help of my father (Don Stiles) and helped to network fellow enthusiasts into the Calgary Area Nest-box Monitors. Today it continues as one of the most successful grassroots conservation efforts on the prairies, maintaining 5000 boxes that produce over 10000 young birds annually!
1 Comments:
Yesterday Andrew came and helped the people in our Side by Side program build nesting boxes. What an awesome day. The people in our program have dementia, and they were assisted by Andrew in such a way that it seemed as if they were doing all the work themselves. He was amazing in the way he interacted with them and even got them to make another box when their energy was flagging. He stayed with us the whole day, and really made our day. I can't say enough good things about the project and what the day making nesting boxes made for us. If you are considering asking Andrew to come to your program, you may do so with confidence that it will be a wonderful experience. Thanks so much, Andrew. Ena from Side by Side
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home