Houses for the birds
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- January
- 31
More houses for the birds are in the works, thanks to BOCES students in Yorktown. Read about it after the break and check out the photos.
BOCES Students’ Houses Are ‘for the Birds’
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS – The wrens, kestrels, owls, bluebirds, finches, and warblers in our area don’t have to be concerned about the subprime mortgage fiasco. Students at Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES are making sure they’re comfortably, and appropriately, housed.
Students in Dave Hannan’s Carpentry class and Nick Lilli’s Environmental Science class have joined forces to build several different birdhouses to be placed around the 13-acre Fox Meadow campus in Yorktown. The Environmental Science students studied bird species and habitats and their “housing preferences.� The Carpentry students helped with the construction. Both classes include students from BOCES’ Regional Alternative High School and The Learning Center at Walden, programs for students who require more supportive high school settings located at Fox Meadow.
When the houses are occupied, students will observe the new owners and write about the experience in the form of research reports, poetry, essays, even songs. 
“We’re making the curriculum more hands-on,� explains Mr. Lilli. He gave special thanks to the Hudson River Teacher Center, whose mini-grant provided the material and supplies for the project.
Carmel’s Alex Peterson (in the photo at the right), a Learning Center student, admitted he wasn’t really a “bird guy,� but, as he sanded the house he was working on, added,“I just like working with my hands.�
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The photo below shows carpentry teacher Dave Hannan helping Peekskill’s Will Johnson, a BOCES Regional Alternative High School student, with the construction of his birdhouse. Photos and text above come from BOCES.
To read about North Salem Girl Scouts making bluebird houses, go here.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 1:23 pm by Mike Risinit.
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Journal News staff writer Greg Clary writes Earth Watch, reporting on environmental issues in the lower Hudson region. Clary has been a reporter, editor and columnist at the Journal News since 1988 and has covered police and courts, transportation, municipal government, development and the environment in the Lower Hudson Valley, among other topics. 
Laura Incalcaterra covers the environment, open space and zoning and planning issues for The Journal News. A Boston College graduate, Laura grew up in Rockland, attended East Ramapo schools and has worked for The Journal News since 1993. Laura has written features and covered North Rockland, crime, government and a host of other issues.
Mike Risinit covers Patterson and Kent in Putnam County, as well as environmental topics touching on the Hudson River and the Great Swamp. Risinit has been a reporter at The Journal News since 1998.
