Scout sets his eagle eye on helping birds

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Photo courtesy West Jackson
Local scout Peyton Jackson stands in front of the myriad of nest boxes he built with local community members in collaboration with the Weminuche Audubon Society. Jackson’s Eagle Scout project was aimed at helping to increase bird populations in the area.

By Peyton Jackson, Pagosa Springs High School student, and Keith Bruno, Audubon Rockies community naturalist | Special to The SUN

Over the winter and spring, the Weminuche Audubon Society (WAS) collaborated with Peyton Jackson, from local Scout Troop 807, to help increase bird populations in the Pagosa Springs area. 

Jackson is currently working on his Eagle rank and for his project he led the effort to build bird houses. Volunteers from the Scout troop and the WAS chapter helped greatly to exceed his original goal of 150 bird houses, completing a total of 163. 

Jackson’s goal with the project is to increase bird populations in the Pagosa Springs community. Nest box designs were selected to target declining bird species in the region, as well as to maintain other stable bird species populations. 

Audubon provided assistance throughout the project. They helped to provide resources to find designs for the houses, recommendations of materials to use, and resources to give the new owners information on how to place the nest box in a way that will optimize the likelihood of nesting. 

Jackson is working with the Town of Pagosa Springs Parks and Recreation Department to place about half of the houses in areas like Reservoir Hill and Yamaguchi Park as soon as weather allows. The remaining nest boxes will be given away to local residents at no charge. If interested in securing a bird house for bluebirds, nuthatches, chickadees, swallows, wrens, etc., please contact Keith Bruno, community naturalist for Audubon Rockies, at keith.bruno@audubon.org. There is no cost for these nest boxes. Get them while they last.

Additionally, if community members have the desire to increase nesting sites at their homes, nestwatch.org (Right Bird, Right House) is a terrific resource to find building plans for a plethora of bird species in the Pagosa Springs area. 

In addition to a huge thanks to the Weminuche Audubon Society, Jackson would like to also thank the businesses who donated materials to help make this project successful.