Creating Magic with Bird Houses Encouraged by N&O

Raleigh, NC attractions

Are you crafty with wood and four years old or better? The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C. has an event you may not want to miss.

Time is short, very short, for getting your ultimate version of a birdhouse built for the 2009 N&O birdhouse competition at the JC Raulston Arboretum.

Depending on your age and skill level there are a few rules that you will need to follow. The simplest of these is that the bird house must be able to be carried in by one person. Another is that it must be able to sit on a table without falling over.

If you are interested in entering the contest you should follow the first link at the bottom of the page. This will bring you to all the rules.
There are different categories for people of different ages and different skill levels.

Children age 4 to 7, 8 to 11, and 12 to 14 compete with their peers. For those 15 and up the competitions are by skill level. Professionals who make birdhouses for a living complete within one group, serious woodcrafters in a second and the flights of fancy group, which would include folks like Max, in a third group.

There are categories which you can find on the JC Raulston Arboretum event page by following the first link.

If you happen not to be a crafts person or you are just curious about the entries, the birdhouses will be on display from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday March 21, 2009 and Sunday March 22, 2009. Judging for the event is on March 20th after 6 PM.

If you come both days you can pick your favorites and then return to see how your selections fared with the judges.

This is a great time to bring the kids to the arboretum to learn a little about wood crafts and birdhouses. It is a time when adults can bring the kids and take a little time to enjoy the wonder of plant life and variety at the same time.

If you have never been to this arboretum, this is a good excuse. You will get to see what you have been missing. The arboretum's staff and volunteers have done a wonderful job through the years of nurturing a surprisingly wide variety of trees and plants that find the N.C. Piedmont region a wonderful place to grow.

Max writes about greenways, rare diseases, timely topics, places to eat, travel and other issues of interest. He encourages you to add your comments.

Link one is to the N&O birdhouse competition for 2009.

Link two is to the driving directions and map to JC Raulston.

Link three is to the JC Raulston Arboretum Home Page.