Volunteers build bird houses for Mercerdale Park

Concerned Citizens for Mercer Island Parks members will mount the houses in the Native Garden.

February 8, 2018 12:45 pm
Members of Concerned Citizens for Mercer Island Parks with 21 birdhouses built out of recycled cedar, which will be mounted in the newly refurbished Native Garden in Mercerdale Park. Photo courtesy of Linda Anchondo
Members of Concerned Citizens for Mercer Island Parks with 21 birdhouses built out of recycled cedar, which will be mounted in the newly refurbished Native Garden in Mercerdale Park. Photo courtesy of Linda Anchondo

Members of Concerned Citizens for Mercer Island Parks (CCMIP) have contributed more than 300 hours restoring Mercerdale Park’s Native Garden habitat, under the supervision of the Mercer Island Parks Department. These community volunteers are dedicated to the goals of strengthening a diversified ecosystem with plants and habitat to attract native butterflies and other insects, small mammals and birds.

Recently, volunteers built nesting boxes for various native birds. They reclaimed the wood from a 40-year-old cedar fence that was donated by a generous Islander. Re-purposing this beautiful wood enabled them to build nesting boxes for native birds, including: 16 for small birds like Chickadees, Nuthatches, and Wrens; two different boxes for Downy Woodpeckers; and three bigger boxes for Screech Owls.

CCMIP is working with the city to position several of these bird houses in the Native Garden to attract these various native species to nest in the Native Garden and make it their home.

For more, see protectMIparks.org. —Provided by Concerned Citizens for Mercer Island Parks