Our Bronze Award: Bluebird Houses By: Amber Nush, Kirsten Sidebottom, and Corinne Blackburn

The Girl Scout Bronze Award

The Girl Scout Bronze Award is the highest award a Junior Girl Scout can earn. Junior Girl Scouts are between 8 and 11 years old and are in third grade through sixth grade. The Bronze Award is actually a project that helps your community and demonstrates the four program goals of the Girl Scouts of America.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award The four program goals of the Girl Scouts of America are: 1. To develop self-potential; 2. To relate to others in a positive way; 3. To develop strong values; and 4. To serve our community.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award To develop self-potential means: That as Girl Scouts we are able try new things and find out what our strengths and weaknesses are. We work on our strengths and weaknesses as a troop and as individuals so that we can be positive leaders in the future.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award To relate to others in a positive way means: That as Girl Scouts we find something positive in each other and are supportive of each other. We accept and love those who don’t share the same interests as we do.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award To develop strong values means: That as Girl Scouts we learn right from wrong. We want to be positive citizens by being able to make the right choices.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award To serve our community means: That we are learning to be leaders as Girl Scouts. We want to be active in our community and try to make it a better place for ourselves, our family, and our neighbors.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award To earn the Girl Scout Bronze Award, we are showing that we are developing our self-potential; relating to others in a positive way; developing strong values; and serving our community.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Before we could start our project, we: Decided what project we wanted to do; Earned the Sign of the Star; Earned the Junior Aide badge; Completed two badges relating to our project (Plants and Animals and Wildlife)

The Girl Scout Bronze Award We chose to build bluebird houses and put them up at the Stewart Mattix Prairie behind George Earle School because Troop #308 has worked with Mrs. Sandy O’Brien, the naturalist, since we were Daisies. By bringing bluebirds back to the prairie, we would help restore the prairie to its natural state.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Before starting, we met with Mrs. O’Brien and did some research online so we knew the correct requirements. Here are a few things we learned:

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Blue birds are symbols of love, hope, and good fortune. They are beautiful songbirds. Because they are meat eaters, they eat insects that can be harmful to your flowers and vegetables. Many people like to attract them to their gardens by building houses for them.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award They are cavity dwellers and usually use holes in trees that are made by woodpeckers and other birds. Because prairies and forests are being destroyed, the bluebirds have nowhere to nest. Today many people are building houses to give the bluebirds places to live.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Bluebirds look for houses in the spring because they are early nesters, even as early as February. In the cold winter weather, they use the houses to shield themselves from the cold winds. Often they roost together so they can share their body heat.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award You should install the houses in early spring before the birds have arrived for summer. After the birds leave in the fall, clean out (wearing gloves) any nesting material, dirt, or broken eggs.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award It is important to have at least one acre of property for each bluebird house. They like their houses facing towards open areas. You should leave about 100 feet between the houses because birds are territorial. They like to protect the area around their nest.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Wood is the best material to use. Do not use pressure-treated lumber because when it gets wet, it gives off vapors poisonous to birds. Paint or stain can be used on the outside, especially the back, but not on the inside.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Do not use tin cans, milk cartons, or metal for nest boxes. They can overheat and kill the eggs and young birds.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Bluebirds prefer houses that are placed on poles so they are protected from squirrels, raccoons, cats, and other animals. If they are attached to a tree, different animals could climb and attack the eggs or baby birds.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award There were other specific guidelines we had to follow. Here are some of them:

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Drill at least four ¼-inch drain holes in the bottom of every house and two 5/8-inch ventilation holes near the top of each side of the house.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Put at least a two-inch overhang on the front of the roof to protect the entrance hole from rain and to prevent cats from reaching in from above.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award The sides of the house should be attached to the floor to keep rain from seeping into the house and nest. Raise the floor ¼-inch up from the bottom of the sides to prevent rotting caused by moisture.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Don’t put perches on any bluebird houses. The only birds that prefer them are starlings and house sparrows.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award Be sure to monitor your house, checking inside on a regular basis to make sure that house sparrows, other birds, or wasps and bees have not moved in.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award After gathering all our information, we were ready to start!

We met at the library to design our bluebird houses using a model Mrs. O’Brien loaned us and information from the Internet.

Hobart Lumber donated the lumber for our projects. Here we are picking up the wood.

Whoops! Dropped a piece!

Loading the wood to take to Corinne’s house. They weren’t kidding when they said it was OUR project! Oh, Yeah! Muscle Women!

All wood had to be measured before we could start.

Our dads helped when it came to their power tools and possibly our severed fingers!

After cutting all the pieces, we had to figure out what went where!

We cut the wood for the bluebird houses with help from our dads.

We are putting the houses together.

We had to stain the bluebird houses to protect them from rotting.

This is how the bluebird houses looked when they were finished.

The Girl Scout Bronze Award We were told to put a heavy coat of Vaseline on the inside top of the house so bees and wasps would not build their nests inside. In two weeks, wasps had moved in even with Vaseline on the inside of the house.

We put up four bird houses in the prairie behind George Earle School and earned our Bronze Award!

CREDITS Producers: Amber Nush Kirsten Sidebottom Corinne Blackburn Sponsor: Lisa Wilkison Special thanks to: Hobart Lumber for donating the wood. Mrs. Cox, principal of George Earle School, for donating money for supplies. Our dads for helping with the power tools.