Prescott is fortunate to have many talented and generous volunteers. Let me introduce you to a special person who is a talented and creative wood craftsman - Charlie Stalzer. Charlie likes to figure out complicated designs, so when he saw an round birdhouse in a woodworking magazine he knew he could make one to fit the Prescott dimensions. The original plan had a copper roof and was too short. Charlie adapted the design to fit the bluebird specifications and changed the roof to wood.
Prescott was receiving requests for "designer" nesting boxes and we had been given recycled redwood from Champoeg State Park's old picnic tables. Charlie saw the value in this wood and started designing what ultimately resulted in a beautiful round redwood nesting box with an octagonal beveled roof. He bevels 20 slats and glues them together into a cylinder and sands the outer surface round. It is topped a round roof with eight bevel cuts. He even makes the hinges by hand!
The Stalzers now have two of these beautiful nesting boxes in their own yard, which sits on the west side of Bull Mountain, with their first ever clutch of bluebirds this summer! When it was second clutch time, Shelly Walker, the bander for this area, figured the male was probably from a farm house that had been torn down two years ago and replaced with a housing development. This male was very wise and clever and did not submit to having his band checked.
The Stalzers are excellent bluebird landowners and enhance their bluebird environment by placing one house very close to their mini-blueberry patch and by keeping their birdbath fresh and clean. There were five eggs laid, five chicks hatched and five fledglings this year. Today Charlie and his wife, Larie, continue to enjoy watching their bluebird family frolicking in their birdbath.
Thank you Stalzers for sharing your story with us and for making your generous donation to our Prescott family. These boxes can be seen at all Prescott functions.