Bird tower project garners Audubon awards
GROVE CITY — Chimney swifts get a new habitat, a Boy Scout gets his Eagle Scout service project completed, Grove City College gets an addition to its wetland nature area and all involved get an award from the Bartramian Audubon Society.
All of the society’s conservation honorees announced in June played major roles in the construction of a 12-foot nesting tower built behind the Phillips Field House on the college campus.
The Institution Award for Sustainable Conservation went to the college. The Organization Award went to Boy Scout Troop 380 of Harrisville, and the individual award was shared by John Relihan Sr. and John Relihan Jr. of Hooker, Sharon Thompson of Grove City and Audubon Society member Cathy Seitzer of Slippery Rock.
The genesis of the project, said Fred Bremer, a biology professor at the college, was the planned razing of the vacant Grove City Middle School where a colony of chimney swifts were living, naturally enough, in a chimney.
Seitzer, a member of the Audubon Society, said, “Sharon Thompson, the wife of a professor, first contacted us. She had watched the birds at the middle school.
“We took the idea to the Moraine Trails Council and said ‘Boy it would be nice if someone could take it on as an Eagle Scout project’ and John kind of bit on the bait there,” she said.
John Relihan Jr. is a member of Boy Scout Troop 380.
He said, “Todd Stevenson, the scoutmaster, got all of the information to me. The Audubon Society gave us the plans.
“I went to local businesses asking if they would donate,” the younger John said. “And I got about 90 percent of the materials.”
He was assisted by his relatives: his uncle Scott Hankey of West Sunbury, his grandfather, Ray Hankey of Meridian, his cousin, Zane Hankey of West Sunbury, and his father.
“We prefabricated the tower in three 4-foot sections,” said Ray Hankey. “We started in September. It took us two days to build the sections and one day to erect it. Because of the weather, we didn’t get to finish it until spring.”
Finishing touches to the nesting tower included shingles and attaching informational plaques.
“He doesn’t have to do all the physical labor, but he has to organize the project and show leadership,” Bremer said of John Jr.’s part in the project.
Bremer was asked by the college to oversee the work.
“Chimney swifts mature during the summer and winter in South America,” said Bremer of the tower’s future tenants. “They are an insectivorous bird, which makes them very important, especially now because of the decline in the bat populations because of white nose (syndrome, a disease fatal to bats.)”
When will the swifts take occupancy?
“That’s up to the birds,” said Bremer. “Presumably they won’t move until forced to move.”
In the meantime, John said once he completes the paperwork, he will submit the project to the Moraine Trails advancement committee for approval. “I did not expect an award,” said John of the Audubon Society recognition.
Bremer said there will be a tower dedication ceremony in the near future.
The tower is located in a section of the campus reserved for nature.
“It’s a wetland nature area, open to the public for fishing, walking,” Bremer said.
