The Birdhouse Monitoring Program is an interactive series of environmental education and art activities designed around the installation and monitoring of birdhouses at selected habitats in local communities. The birdhouses are carefully selected and placed with the goal of attracting specific native bird species while enriching community life.
Each location and respective community is unique as to its potential, interests, and most appropriate educational approach – the program is designed so that each project is customized accordingly.
The program has grown over the years to include schools, parks and community centers. If you would like to start a project at your community center or school, please contact us! We are happy to mentor you on how to go about it and what common challenges you may face – we also have many fundraising tips we can share!
We highly encourage community members to be an active part of the projects by learning about the birds and volunteering to monitor the houses – read about our stewardship opportunities.
The history.
Conceptualized and initiated through a passionate individual volunteer effort with the support of a local school’s Green Team, the program was created to bring hands-on, interactive, nature activities to the students. It started in 2013 with the installation of a very simple purple martin house and a few other birdhouses.
Over the next 5 years, the birdhouses have become a reliable nesting spot for migratory tree swallows, chickadees and wrens. Fact-sheets about these and other native species are available to the teachers and students so they can learn the characteristics of each bird and explore habitat features during nature walks.
The houses are monitored every season and one of them now even has a bird-cam that transmits live-video image to a TV at the entrance to the school (this is everyone’s favorite feature!!)