With the return of spring comes the return of nesting birds to our yards. Many of these birds will be looking for a cavity or nest box to lay their eggs and raise their young. We can all assist native cavity nesters by providing and monitoring suitable nest boxes for them. A Nest Box Seminar will be held at the Horicon Marsh International Education Center on Saturday, March 2, 2013. Events at this seminar will help you learn how to enhance bird habitat, provide nest boxes, and learn about songbirds and raptors that use nest boxes. All events are free and open to the public. Members of the Horicon Marsh Bird Club and Wisconsin DNR have organized the seminar which will be held at the Horicon Marsh International Education Center located north of Horicon on Highway 28. There will be displays by the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin (BRAW), the Horicon Marsh Bird Club, Marsh Haven Nature Center, the Wood Duck Society, Bird City Wisconsin, Friends of Horicon Marsh International Education Center, Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area and the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory. Members of these organizations will be available during the event to answer questions and discuss their role in providing "housing" for native cavity nesting birds. People of all ages may build their own birdhouses (great activity for children) assisted by carpenters of the Beaver Dam Senior Center's woodshop. Various nest boxes and kits can be purchased. Admission to the event is FREE! No registration is required. Come and enjoy a specific program, or come for all of them! Schedule 9:00 AM Open House begins - 9:30 AM - Barb Harvey, a local Raptor Rehabilitator, will show live cavity nesting raptors and what you can do to help them. Children will be especially interested in this presentation. - 10:45 Bill Mueller, Ornithologist and Conservation Biologist at the Western Great Lakes Bird & Bat Observatory will give a presentation on Chimney Swifts: Ecology and How We Can Help Them. - 12:00 PM Lunch- on your own o Buy and build a nest box with Beaver Dam Senior Center woodworkers o Visit displays, gather information on Horicon Marsh area groups - 1:00 PM - Jeff Bahls Wood Duck Society Board Member, will talk about How to Make Your Boxes Pro"Duck"tive. - 2:15 PM - Jack Bartholmai, Dodge Co. Coordinator for BRAW and Wildlife Photographer, will present a program on Bluebirds. Horicon Marsh International Education Center is located at N7725 Hwy 28 between Horicon and Mayville. For further information contact Jeff Bahls at 920-210-4832 or jbahls@xxxxxxxxxxxx or Liz Herzmann at 920-387-7893 or elizabeth.herzmann@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. #################### You received this email because you are subscribed to the Wisconsin Birding Network (Wisbirdn). To UNSUBSCRIBE or SUBSCRIBE, use the Wisbirdn web interface at: //www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn To set DIGEST or VACATION modes, use the Wisbirdn web interface at: //www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn Visit Wisbirdn ARCHIVES at: //www.freelists.org/archives/wisbirdn