I just read a great article/bird interest story from the Mississippi Audubon Society. It was about the 2006 Operation Backyard Recovery. When we think of Katrina we think of massive housing and business damage, but we often forget that birds lost their roosting and feeding sites.
A well-known birder, Judy Toups recognized this problem and called for birders within the Missisippi, Arkansas and Lousiana
areas to build and put up birdhouses wherever possible. The benefits of OBR were to provide a family oriented activity, to connect the local Audubon Societys, and to promote the Great Backyard Bird Count.
The Houses for Birds Program included birdhouses that were low-cost and easy to assemble and specifically focused on woodpeckers, titmice and chickadees. This project has engaged children and families and schools and fostered a true sense of service and appreciation for nature. To date, hundreds of birdhouses, built with recycled fence boards collected across coastal Mississippi have been placed across the coast.
Doesn’t that feel good!!! Build a birdhouse, save a bird. (I knew my slogan had roots somewhere =))
