Children will have a chance to put together bird houses for use in Catawba College’s Fred Stanback Jr. Ecological Preserve during two upcoming Friday Nights Out in Downtown Salisbury. Thanks to the efforts of Catawba College senior and Environmental Steward Eli Wittum, these bird houses will be placed in the Preserve and be mapped so the children who assemble them and their families can see the benefits of their efforts.
Wittum’s fellow Catawba student and Environmental Steward, Colleen Smiley, who is also a National Wildlife Federation Fellow, will also be on hand for both Friday Night Outs, offering children a chance to make craft bird feeders for them to take home.
Wittum, an Environmental Science major, and his peers will be on hand between 5 and 8 p.m. Friday, March 6 and April 3 in front of Downtown Catawba’s storefront located at 100 W. Innes Street in the Plaza Building, Suite 103. Wittum will have donated and pre-cut bird house materials available for interested children and their families to assemble. He will also provide literature to these children and families about the hazards of littering on birds of prey and renesting hatchlings.
While Wittum developed this project as a part of his work as an Environmental Steward at the College, donations have made it possible.
Lumber for the bird houses was donated by Shaver’s Wood Products of Cleveland and Dan Nicholas Park, while Lowes Home Improvement provided screws, nails and hinges. Students at West Rowan High School volunteered to cut the lumber and pre-screw holes to allow for easy assembly of the bird houses using only a screwdriver.
Wittum has also used some of the donated materials to assemble three Southern Flying Squirrel boxes and three Screech Owl boxes that will also be placed in the Ecological Preserve at Catawba and mapped.
