Sanctuary Seeks Help Building Bird Nesting Boxes

Quinn Wildlife Sanctuary is recruiting volunteers and private landowners to build and monitor nesting habitat for birds of prey and other species.

Updated on Nov. 7, 2026 in Bird Watching

Gouache-painted editorial illustration of a plain wooden nesting box mounted on a tree trunk among sage-green foliage, evoking habitat restoration for local birds. — Quinn Wildlife Sanctuary is recruiting volunteers and private landowners in Huntsville to build and monitor nesting boxes for owls, hawks, ducks and other birds, funded by a $10,000 grant. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

Would you volunteer time to help build or monitor bird nesting boxes locally?

Quinn Wildlife Sanctuary is seeking volunteers and private landowners to help build and monitor bird nesting habitats in the Huntsville area. The effort is funded in part by a $10,000 grant that paid for nesting boxes designed for owls, hawks, ducks and other species.

Why it matters

Older trees that naturally provide nesting holes have become harder to find after years of logging, leaving many birds with fewer places to raise their young. Artificial nesting boxes offer an alternative habitat that local residents can help provide.

The sanctuary received a $10,000 grant that funded nesting boxes, and last year it installed 50 smaller boxes at the Huntsville Botanical Garden. The expansion to larger boxes on Land Trust properties has no stated box count or completion date.

The players

Quinn Wildlife Sanctuary

A wildlife sanctuary in the Huntsville area that rescues and supports local wildlife and runs the nesting box program.

Huntsville Botanical Garden

A botanical garden in Huntsville, Alabama, where the sanctuary installed 50 smaller nesting boxes last year.

The details

Volunteers do not need wildlife rescue experience to help assemble the boxes, and private landowners with suitable habitat for birds of prey can have a box installed and help monitor it. Interested people can sign up through the sanctuary's social media pages.

Last year: Sanctuary installed 50 smaller nesting boxes at the Huntsville Botanical Garden.
November 7, 2026: Sanctuary sought volunteers and landowners for the nesting habitat effort.

Culture Shift

The sanctuary's nest box effort extends a long-running conservation practice of installing artificial boxes to replace natural tree cavities lost to logging. It reflects a growing reliance on human-built habitat as older trees that once supplied nesting holes become scarcer.

Residents can help by volunteering to assemble nesting boxes without prior wildlife experience, or by offering suitable habitat on their property for a box to be installed and monitored. Signing up is done through the sanctuary's social media pages.

The takeaway

Adding a nesting box to a yard or volunteering to build boxes is a practical way to offset the loss of natural tree cavities that many cavity-nesting birds rely on. Those interested can start by contacting the sanctuary through its social media pages.