KING CITY — Lockwood 4-H member Seralyn Colton recently hosted a work day for the Give A Hoot! 4-H Owl Nesting Box Project.
The Oct. 16 work day was part of a 4-H service learning project that was open to all 4-H members in Monterey County to participate in and was held at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds in King City, from 5 to 7 p.m.
A total of 20 members and adult volunteers from the Buena Vista, Lockwood, King City Rural and King City Blue Ribbon 4-H clubs participated. Participants ranged in ages from 5 to 16 years old, all of whom worked together in teams to build the pre-cut nest boxes.
As part of the service learning activity, Colton contacted various businesses to provide start-up donations to purchase the needed wood and supplies. She pre-cut all the wood and provided the tools to assemble the boxes at the site.
A total of four owl-nesting boxes were completed, with more work days planned throughout the county. These wood boxes will be distributed in the county to locations that will benefit from the natural rodent control that owls can provide.
The 4-H slogan, “Learn by Doing,” is an important part of this project — by allowing 4-H members to learn about owls and helping to build nesting boxes, Colton hopes to positively impact the community.
The Give A Hoot! 4-H Owl Nesting Box Project hopes to place a total of 50 nesting boxes, which will help to reduce habitat reduction and allow barn owls to successfully raise their young and survive longer than the average one to two years.
For more information about this service learning project or the 4-H program, contact the 4-H offices in Salinas at 831-759-7386.
