Chapter News & Announcements

The Evergreen Audubon 2023 Nestbox Sale: Solving the avian housing crisis one box at a time

Posted on Author Ed Furlong
Three adult women in winter clothing in front of a table of nest boxes (bird houses)
Susan Krause, Andrea Furlong, and Rachel Hutchison, freezing but cheerful in the sun as they sell nestboxes. (c) Carol Burdick

Saturday, March 25, dawned cold (3°F) and windy (a window-rattling 20 mph and above), but this did not stop our intrepid Evergreen Audubon members from showing up to sell nestboxes to our Evergreen-Conifer community. Two teams, led by Carol Burdick and Ed Furlong, turned out at the Bergen Park and Aspen Park King Soopers, where morning shoppers were greeted cheerfully and encouraged to purchase nestboxes. The five varieties of nestboxes (Nuthatch/Chickadee, Bluebird, Flicker, Robin and Flycatcher), handcrafted by our members at last August’s Nestbox Build Day, were on display and interest was immediate!

Two women and a man standing in from of a table of nest boxes (birdhouses)
Lin Wareham-Morris convincing a customer to buy an Evergreen Audubon nestbox. (c) Carol Burdick

At both our locations and on both Saturday and Sunday, sales were as brisk as the weather. With each sale or indication of interest we were able to engage with our community on the importance of placing nestboxes in the forests and meadows of our watershed.  The need for nestboxes is growing dramatically, as our communities mitigate forested lands to minimize wildfire risk and as our forests continue to age and respond to changing climate.  The avid purchases of our nestboxes (sold at cost as part of our mission to serve our communities) shows that we are getting this message across. We sold 47 Chickadee, 32 Bluebird, 8 Flicker, 4 Robin, and 7 Flycatcher boxes, totaling nearly $2,600, which will help us purchase materials for our 2023 nestbox build and sales.  Just as encouraging were the many comments about the quality of the boxes and the appreciation of our work in improving bird nesting habitat.  A number of people simply gave donations, saying that they thought our work is important.

Two men and a women standing behind a table of nest boxes (birdhouses).
David Wald, Sylvia Robertson, and Ed Furlong selling Evergreen Audubon Nestboxes. (c) Lisa Wald

We would particularly like to give a great big THANK YOU!!!  to all our volunteers for coming out on a cold windy early Spring weekend and making our sale such a success: Andrea Furlong, Rachel Hutchinson, Susan Krause, Kathy Madison, Barbara Malone, Charles Patton, Sylvia Robertson, Kyle Schultze, Megan Schultze, Dave Wald, Lisa Wald, Lin Wareham-Morris, Catherine Wilkins, Carol Burdick, Ed Furlong

So, this coming year, when we are building and selling our next batch of nestboxes, be sure to volunteer and join in the fun!

–Carol Burdick and Ed Furlong