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Miami student launches bird-watching club
Architecture student also working on a bird-watching blind at MU Natural Areas.
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By Kevin McCune,
Contributing Writer
8:37 AM Friday, February 26, 2010
OXFORD — Bird watching may soon become a hobby for many Oxford residents and Miami University students.
With snow still on the ground, it might not seem like the best weather for a trip to the Miami University Natural Areas. But sun and birds will be aplenty in April when a Miami University student is finished building a bird-watching blind — a shelter where people can watch wildlife without disturbing it.
The idea for a new bird-watching blind came about in January from Miami University architecture student Max Streeter.
Streeter has always been a fan of the outdoors and architecture, so he looked for a way to marry the two together.
“The ability to work outside and still do architecture is a great melding of my interest,” he said.
Streeter has recently started preparing for the project, and has consulted with Jim Reid, field manager of Miami University’s Natural Areas. The project is already thrilling many people in the area, including David Russell, a professor of ornithology at Miami.
Russell has been an avid birder for years, and was more than willing to help when Streeter and Reid wanted to confer with him on the idea for the blind.
“They have a tremendous project,” he said.
The thing that most excites Russell about the project is that Streeter and his team of four other architecture students are becoming more interested in birds.
“The part I enjoy is that the guys involved in this are now becoming birders,” he said.
Streeter and his team even formed the Miami University Bird Club in support of the project. The project was initially set in motion on Jan. 15, and it was only three days later that the bird club was founded.
“I found people that were also interested in watching birds,” Streeter said. “What was most exciting was that we were able to bring students together who were interested in this subject.”
Russell is hopeful the project will spur interest in the new bird club. He also hopes the new blind will bring new people to the natural areas.
“If this goes well there might be more areas in the natural areas for other blinds,” he said.
The first phase of designs are complete, and Streeter and his team have brought in various professors, including Reid and Russell, to improve and critique the design.
“They’ve certainly bitten off a huge project,” Russell said. “Every time you make a change, it creates a ripple.”
This ripple is caused because Streeter is trying to create the best possible design, but to do that, he and his team have to make architecture, birding, plant selection and placement all agree. It’s a complex and time consuming process that must appease a number of disciplines.
The biggest obstacle facing the team has been funding, as Streeter wants to build a structure that will last the university and the community.
Russell explained how the team has looked into all kinds of new technologies such as more environment-friendly wood and greener perspectives.
Reid has done his part to try and help raise funding for the project.
“The pledges have come from bird club, Audubon Miami Valley, the Miami University Natural Areas, as well as two more sources of funding that at this point have not been made public,” Reid said.
“The money will be used for materials, landscaping, plants, shrubs, trees, bird seed, bird-viewing supplies like binoculars, and bird books,” he said.
According to Streeter, the team has currently raised close to $3,000 with a goal budget of $7,500.
A huge boost to that budget came in the form of donations from the Audubon Miami Valley of Ohio. The Audubon Society President, and retired Miami University professor, Hardy Eshbaugh presented the project to the board and they unanimously decided to help financially support the project.
The funding comes from the Audubon Society’s TogetherGreen initiative. TogetherGreen started in 2008 with a 5-year $20 million-grant from Toyota.
Eshbaugh believes the blind will be a success.
“The structure’s going to be innovative,” he said.
Eshbaugh is also excited to see the group of young architecture students get into birding.
“A group of people who didn’t know much about birds, now have bird feeders,” he said.
Perhaps the best thing about the new blind is what it will mean for the community and university.
“It’s a worthy ideal, this will help bring people to nature, and encourage their interest in supporting our natural world,” Reid said. “It will be a real asset to the community.”
Russell feels the blind will be a hit for a long time.
“It should be a really fantastic long-term for the natural areas,” he said.
By getting so many interest groups involved with the project, Russell feels the project has become a true community effort.
“By making it a community effort it will have long-term success,” he said.
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8:23 PM, 2/26/2010