Last fall, Jim Shallow at Audubon Vermont was contacted by Mark LaSalle, Coastal Project Director for Audubon Mississippi in Moss Point. According to Mark, Operation Backyard Recovery was being launched to promote the recovery of habitat for birds and other wildlife in areas stricken by Hurricane Katrina. In this project, native trees and shrubs were to be planted and birdhouses constructed and placed in areas where roosting and nesting sites for birds were lost. Mississippi was asking Vermont for help in providing the birdhouses.
Shirley Johnson, from Green Mountain Audubon Society, was able to find some wood leftover from a remodeling project and Jim Shallow found wood at Green Mountain Audubon Center from a wind-downed pine which had been milled by Audubon volunteer Darwin Haselton. The wood was taken to the Center for Tecnology Essex where instructors Justin Sorenson and Jon Willard agreed to work with their class of 32 students to cut the wood into the pieces needed to make the birdhouses. Patterns for the birdhouses came from Jim Shallow and a book on building bluebird nest boxes and from Mark LaSalle, who contributed information over the Internet on basic birdhouse designs.
The cutting was completed by the beginning of December. To facilitate transportation, the wood was left unassembled and taped together in kits. The next problem was to get them down to Mississippi. Unfortunately, we “just missed” several vehicles loaded with items to be shipped to Moss Point. In mid-December, Shirley called Anson Tebbetts from WCAX TV, who did a televised interview with her standing by the open tail-gate door of her station wagon filled with birdhouse kits, asking for help with transportation.
Colchester resident, Bob Huskisson saw the interview and called to volunteer his help. The birdhouses were loaded into Bob’s minivan on December 31, and by January 8, 2006, they had arrived in Moss Point, Mississippi. The plan there is to hold birdhouse clinics where children and families can assemble the kits and learn about placement in yards and natural areas. Green Mountain Audubon Society thanks all who were partners in this great project.
Bob Huskisson owns and operates two businesses in the area: Superior Window Cleaning and Nautical Adventures. If you need your windows cleaned or would like to charter a boat trip on Lake Champlain (his boat or yours), Bob is the person to call. He has a boating master’s license and also conducts boat handling classes. You can reach him at 879-0229.
