Bird Project BP#2

For my first project task, I cut four large planks of wood for four different birdhouses. With Alan's instruction, I cut one piece of wood for the back, two for the sides, a roof, a floor, and a door. The door was complicated as I had to cut a perfect circle using use a special machine. The instructions called for a 1-half-inch hole, so I had to locate a special 1-half-inch insert to a machine that would cut the hole for me. After that, I curated an infographic on the Red-Tailed Hawk with facts about its natural history, ecological and cultural values, nestings, and diet. We then built birdhouses by hand with a drill, hammer, and a handful of nails. My partner Norah, and I, struggled in the beginning and had to restart several times. Nevertheless, we completed our task, and today, Saturday the 20th, we put up our birdhouses. Within 5 minutes of the house being erected, a Tree Swallow began dive-bombing the house I made. Within thirty seconds of the bird scoping out the newest property, they landed, poked their head in, and retracted it quickly to look around. The skittish bird finally climbed in until they were disturbed by our class heading to the swinging bridge. This sight made me very happy. The only thing not completed in our projects are the signs being burned this weekend with the brand-new Proctor Birding Trail logo. This week I was stunned by the overwhelming population of the Red-Tailed Hawk; over 7 million Red-Tailed Hawks have been observed, according to Cornell's Lab of Orthinology, Birds of the World.