By Haley Cafarella | Correspondent

Due to a commitment to maintain and sustain the nest boxes they make for bluebirds, the students and alumni volunteers in Red Bank Catholic High School have stopped birds from leaving the nest of  Monmouth County to fly south for the last 25 years.

This effort has been accomplished through the school’s participation in Cornell University’s “NestWatch Project,” which, according to the school’s website, “is a nationwide monitoring system designed to track the status and trends in the reproductive biology of birds. The project collects data from all over the country into a database designed to assist with the study of the current condition of breeding populations and how they may be changing as a result of climate change, …. and the introduction of non-native plants and animals.”

The project has seen major changes over the last 25 years, according to Mary Jane Davis, an RBC AP biology teacher.

“When we first started, it was very rudimentary,” she said.

“We would just put up a few bird houses,” she said, adding that the project has become more interactive and global now in terms of the access of information through the database.

Students in Red Bank Catholic’s Introduction to Engineering class designed newer nesting boxes using Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) instead of cedar wood to be installed at Dorbrook Park in Colts Neck. “According to the students’ research, plastic houses are sturdier, last longer and birds prefer them,” Davis said.

To get the students interested in signing up for the project, Davis bought a blue “Angry Bird” costume, which is based on a character from the popular app, “Angry Birds.” The students could sign up to join the project on the school’s website, and alumni return to help out as well, she said.

“I really loved volunteering for the Bluebird Project,” said RBC junior Amanda Dobrowolski.   “Having two parrots myself I truly appreciate these beautiful creatures. I wanted to give the wild birds a safe home like my parrots have. It was amazing to see how so many of my friends at RBC, faculty and other various volunteers came together for one unifying cause.”

“Some observations I made were that the birds that nest in our houses are really small,” said senior Kathryn Rossi. “The entrances to the houses are really tiny. I also learned all the little critters who try to take over the bird houses. Bees try to make hives, and mice, ants and raccoons threaten the bird houses as snack shacks containing baby birds. The bird house is essentially a fortress for these birds.”