Recently, Cody and I attended a meeting with PACT, a local chapter of the NC Wildlife Federation. The weekend following our first meeting was met with an opportunity to help build bluebird houses for a project that an ASU professor is conducting. The boxes will be placed in various locations so that she may gather information regarding reproductive behaviors. Current experiments indicate that the more colorful males are the ones who, to put it plainly, "get the girl". How the bluebird chooses a mate is one of the primary research interests. By taking them into a controlled environment they can manipulate the birds' colorings so they can gauge reactions to those changes. It's a little more in depth, but that was one major point I found quite interesting.
There were approximately 20 helpful people who came to the event despite the unfavorable, wintry weather conditions.
In three hours we built a little over 100 bluebird boxes!
As scary as it sounds, I used some power tools! Once Cody and I found our groove we were able to finish the boxes pretty quickly. I manned the drill while Cody held the pieces in place. We made for a great team and completed somewhere between 15-20 boxes. It was fun to help out and share, we enjoyed ourselves.
Being involved with PACT is something we look forward to continue doing.They are a group of likeminded people who can potentially raise awarness about issues affecting our environment. Those are definitely the types of induviduals I want to be associated with.
PACT stands for Protecting, Advocating, and Conserving Together.
Providing places for birds to raise their little ones will bring your yard one step closer to becoming a an environmentally friendly habitat. If you are interested in providing shelter for your birds to nest in there are many plans on the internet available for download. I found this bluebird nesting box plan by doing a google search. We're going to build some, too!
