For the birds...

From left, Brad Seymour and Neil Hillesland drill pilot holes as they assemble a nesting box for wood ducks on July 21 as part of a project initiated by the Elmore County Resource Conservation and Development District.

A dozen volunteers spent the past several days building seven of the wooden nesting boxes for the ducks along with another 10 wooden structures for use by geese along the south fork of Anderson Dam.

Keeping the nests several feet off the ground helps deter predators to improve the survival chances of goose and duck chicks to more than 80 percent. Without those raised nests, the chances of these chicks surviving averages around 10 percent.