By Liam Fox

Recently I and many of my friends worked to improve the availability of real estate for Red Wiggler, bird real estate that is. My name is Liam Fox, I have been volunteering at Red Wiggler for several years. I am also a Boy Scout and wanted to do something for the farm for my Eagle Scout project.

Working with Liz and Woody, we came up with the idea of building more eastern blue bird homes and installing them. They also wanted me to install a purple martin house. Both of these species bring a lot of benefits to the farm. They eat a tremendous amount of insects, providing a natural means of protecting the crops. The birds are also beautiful neighbors, enhancing the variety of fauna on the farm and in the community.

Many people made donations to help me purchase the materials, including my family, neighbors, and the Knights of Columbus at St.Elizabeth’s Parish in Rockville . Steve James at Barrons Lumber on West Diamondback Road in Gaithersburg sold me the material at cost, which helped a great deal.

On Sunday the 15th, 15 friends and fellow Scouts gathered at my house to build 10 eastern blue bird houses. Without mortal injury we completed the houses and ate a lot of cookies.

On Thursday the 19th, 10 friends and Scouts including Woody met at Red Wiggler and installed the houses we built as well as an eight gourd purple martin house.

Next spring we look forward to welcoming the new residents of Red Wiggler.

I got educational material form

Blue Bird

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/id

http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/

Purple Martin

http://birding.about.com/od/birdprofiles/a/purplemartinfacts.htm

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Martin/id

http://purplemartin.org/main/mgt.html