Our group worked alongside John Rost at the Penn State Berks campus to help our local population of Eastern Bluebirds. We met with John throughout the past few months to build 6 birdhouses, which we placed along the trails outside of the Luerssen building. These birdhouses were specifically built to house Eastern Bluebirds, but they can also be used by other small birds. In the past Eastern Bluebirds declined in population due to habitat loss and competition from an invasive species – the European Starling. These invasive birds are known to kill babies of other bird species in order to take over their nesting space. It was important to make sure the birdhouses we built this semester were just the perfect size to allow bluebirds inside and to keep the starlings out.
We had a lot of fun working with John to make this project happen. We learned a lot about birds and birdhouses that we never knew before, and building the birdhouses by hand was a new experience. We realized that little change goes a long way in helping the environment.