PROJECT PERCH IN SCHOOLS
More than 50 Broward County schools have participated in educating children and youth about ways to care for, protect, and nurture the owls. Activities have included making a wildlife journal, creating artificial burrows, providing perches, signs, stakes, and rope, and learning how to become “Certified Burrow Caretakers”.
Because lawn mowing equipment is heavy and damages burrows, the creation of artificial burrows has been an important part of the process of saving the Burrowing Owls. It also facilitates relocating burrows away from unsafe areas of school grounds.
What is amazing, is how unique each school project turns out to be and how many different school subjects, classes, and clubs that these projects impact.
We have had science fair participants, environmental clubs, and science classes, but we have also had student journalists, videographers, photographers, and artists as well as a math class, a shop class, a robotics lab, and children with special needs. In all of our projects, the students do as much of the work as possible.
The artificial burrows are dug by students; the maps for the projects are made by students; the artwork, videos, photographs, signs, banners, and websites are all created by students.
Schools like Griffin Elementary, Hollywood Hills Elementary and Driftwood Middle have been sharing their grounds with the owls for more than 30 years. We work with Cooper City High and Pioneer Middle, the school where the movie Hoot was filmed. Yes, the owls actually live there. We’ve partnered on Earth Day projects with Indian Ridge Middle, Pompano Elementary and Pompano High. Our “Plant a Burrow – Grow an Owl” projects create long term safe habitat for owls.
You can support our program by making a donation.
PROJECT PERCH HELPS OWLS GET HOME
The South Florida Wildlife Center cares for injured burrowing owls. Their motto is “rescue, rehabilitate and release”. We partner with them to help the owls get home safely. Sometimes owls have been rescued from a place they can’t go back to, like when the owl’s home is being developed. Sometimes they’re hit by a car and we don’t know exactly where they came from. That’s where Project Perch can help.
We move quickly to install new artificial burrows or find available burrows where an owl can safely be released as close to their old home as we can. Private releases do not disturb the owl but volunteers that help install the burrows, are educated about owls and watch over the owls that use the new burrows.
