CPO Helps K.G. Outdoor Club Students Build Bird Feeders

The King George Outdoor Club youth recently met at King George Middle School after classes to learn more about birds wintering in our area. Assistant leader, K.D. Fike, presented a PowerPoint on identifying birds to the students.
She went over the basic types of birds, how to tell what the birds feed on by beak type and also how to ID them by markings and their feet type. Some markings are on the wings, head, crests and neck. Students were presented with field guides provided by a grant from VDGIF and the Wildlife Foundation of Virginia for learning how to identify birds.
At the end of the PowerPoint Presentation, K.D. challenged the students to ID the various birds that are commonly in Virginia on her remaining slides. The youth with the greatest amount of correct identifications won a pair of binoculars. The young man that won was Zach Pardee and the young lady that won was Emma Thomas but there were several youth that were tied resulting in a run off challenge.
After the PowerPoint, students chose between a bird feeder or a squirrel house to build and take home. The wood and screws were donated by Lowes at Central Park in Fredericksburg. Students were given basic safety instruction to keep moms happy and Urgent Care doctors less busy, and then a prototype of the bird feeder and the squirrel house were left as examples on tables. Students were also given a run down on the process and order in which to build each project correctly.
VDGIF’s CPO Matt Dean was in attendance and assisted with helping the kids line up edges and assemble the precut pieces and safely screw them together. CPO Dean was able to work with several students throughout the few hours we spent with the kids.
As the students were working on their projects they soon found that teamwork was much more efficient and easier for them than going it alone in assembling their bird feeders and squirrel houses.
By the end of the hour, bird feeders were coming together nicely and students were quickly gaining skills in using basic power tools. As we came to the end of our event, students were given bird seed to stock their feeders or they were given pine shavings to start their squirrel houses.
We could see the sense of accomplishment in their eyes as they left and many stopped to thank us for holding the event. CPO Dean was a big help and the kids were thrilled to have him with us. His laid back demeanor was a good fit with the teenagers. His help with the project building was invaluable too.
We also want to thank Mrs. Pardee, a mathematics teacher at KGMS for stopping in and helping us too. She stuck with one of our students assisting him after the event until his feeder was complete.
National Wild Turkey Federation’s Rappahannock Spurs Chapter insured our event, Lowes donated the wood and screws for the kids and the K.G. Middle School allowed us to meet at the school and use the room.
“This program is supported by the 2019 Virginia Wildlife Grant Program through a partnership between the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Foundation of Virginia.”