Capay Open Space Park

Woodland High School students visited Capay Open Space Park (COSP) for a day of restoration work, learning about and installing wildlife habitat enhancements. Students, mentors, and experts gathered for an introduction to building nest boxes for native birds. Tanya Meyer from Yolo County RCD and Corey Shake from Point Blue Conservation Science explained critical elements of nest box design—side holes for ventilation, bottom holes for drainage, properly sized entrance/exit hole, and a predator guard. Micheal Perrone from Yolo Audubon added, “Tens of thousands of fledglings have left these local boxes over the past 15 years, providing nesting habitat for Tree Swallows who otherwise do not have habitat here.”

“A nest box is an opportunity to build populations back that have declined. Habitat, such as older trees with deserted woodpecker holes, has decreased due to human activity. Western Bluebirds or various species of native flycatchers can fit into a smaller hole as opposed to invasive species like the European Starling.” - Corey Shake, Point Blue Conservation Science

The high schoolers worked together to assemble the boxes and then the group walked the park installing nest boxes and searching for birds. Birdwatching is fun as well as informative. Monitoring the animals and plants (biomonitoring) of COSP can help us determine its environmental health since these living things are constantly exposed to the conditions there.

After searching the skies, students investigated the waters of Cache Creek.

CCC’s Outreach and Education Assistant, Elise Stinnett, continued the day’s topic by introducing common, benthic macro-invertebrate species found in Cache Creek. Students collected samples and identified tolerant and sensitive species living in the water at COSP. Based on the large population size of tolerant species (those which can withstand pollution), the students hypothesized that Cache Creek is slightly unhealthy.

Students finished the day with an end-of-the-course celebration and writing “Thank You’s” to the people who made their SLEWS program possible – mentors, SLEWS Coordinator Eva Dwyer, guest experts and their teacher, Mr. Delsol.

Thank you to Woodland High School for your productive and professional work. You made a positive impact at Capay Open Space Park!

SLEWS Blog - A Day of Birds, Boxes, and Bugs