Engineering design in action – building a home for NC Bluebirds

Early in the fall semester students in EGR 101 have an opportunity to impact a unique group of North Carolina residents - local bluebirds. The assignment to build a wooden birdhouse is not hypothetical. The houses built in class are later delivered to the North Carolina Bluebird Society and installed on various trails.

The partnership between First-Year Design and the NC Bluebird Society is a win-win. Students have the chance to develop and refine woodworking skills, while supporting the mission of the Society, which is to foster the resurgence of bluebirds.

Nest boxes built in the fall 2022 semester, and pictured below, will generate hundreds of additional bluebirds in our state over the next several years.  Ken Kernoodle, past President of the Society states, “The North Carolina Bluebird Society is so appreciative of you and the Duke students for making and providing these boxes .... you are truly providing houses that will foster the resurgence of bluebirds and other cavity nesting birds in North Carolina”.

bluebird houses built by Pratt students

For more information about the NC Bluebird Society, visit, https://www.ncbluebird.org/.