Brian Beckner has more than 50 clients and 2,500 bird boxes to maintain in Florida through his Native Bird Boxes business, using his contacts and knowledge of the golf industry to protect wildlife and showcase the birds for golfers.
Brian Beckner often finds himself up a tree in the course of his business, building and installing bird boxes for golf courses and gated communities, the Fort Myers, Fla.-based News-Press reported.
The former golf course superintendent also gives tours, mostly to residents of those golf course communities, to help people understand how nature and their golf courses co-exist. He’ll also do private tours through areas such as the CREW Trust lands (Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed), the News-Press reported.
“It’s hard to call it a job, when there is so much pleasure taken from experiencing wildlife opportunities like this, then being able to share with folks and their communities by showing them what they have harnessed and seeing their joy radiate!” Beckner said.
Beckner started his business, Native Bird Boxes, two years ago. He has more than 50 clients and 2,500 bird boxes to maintain, which means cleaning them out between nesting seasons and shooing away snakes on the hunt for eggs or chicks, the News-Press reported.
The woodworking hobbyist builds the boxes in his workshop at home. A box built for a screech owl takes about 27 minutes from start to finish. Sometimes his son and daughter help him at home or out on a course. His wife does the bookkeeping. The boxes, which are on sale to the public through Geoponics.com, are made of cedar and designed for specific kinds of birds. The entrance hole diameter, for example, is larger for a screech owl than for a bluebird, the News-Press reported.
The boxes are simple, have no elaborate porches, siding or gingerbread and are carefully placed to be visible to golfers yet isolated enough to attract birds, the News-Press reported.
“What Brian is doing is taking what we are doing and going above and beyond,” said Joe Maderia, advancement director for Audubon International. Audubon International is a nonprofit, environmental organization that works with communities to reduce their impact on nature. Madeira toured one of the Shadowwood Preserve golf courses with Beckner on July 10, the News-Press reported.
Beckner, who traces his love of the outdoors and animals to his Texas roots, took the business over from George McGrath, an ornithologist who was nearing retirement. McGrath told Beckner he didn’t think a person could make a living from the bird boxes.
“I took that as a challenge. I love the challenge,” Beckner said. “I was able to walk away from a traditional job. He had built a career as a golf course superintendent over 20 years in Southwest Florida. His experience and contacts enabled him to grow the business McGrath had started, he said. His understanding of how golf courses and the environment blend together helps him explain the relationship to people on his tours. He’s also learned to identify birds even from a distance by their profile and calls, the News-Press reported.
“You can tell he is a genuine person. I couldn’t think of a better person to teach about birds,” said Eric Ruha, operations manager for Shadowwood.
Golfers and residents also like the birds, Ruha said. “Everybody wants to know what’s in the boxes. They say show me some cool pictures.”
Many people do not understand how golf courses have improved their treatment of the environment, according to Ruha. They don’t know for example that the amount of chemicals needed to protect grass from weeds and insects is much less than it was years ago, the News-Press reported.
People don’t see subtle things when they roll through on a golf cart, said Kyle Sweet, superintendent of The Sanctuary Golf Club on Sanibel. The extra long rough at the edge of a pond does more than keep a ball from rolling into the water, Sweet said, it’s part of the filtering process to keep ponds clearer, the News-Press reported.
Bird boxes are another way of showing how courses try to be environmentally aware, according to Sweet. “They show you are for it, that you support it. They make you a better superintendent and give you a common thread with environmentalists,” Sweet said.
So far, Beckner has focused on golf courses and the communities associated with them. But the business is growing and he’s thinking of hiring a helper. He also hopes to expand by winning contracts to provide bird boxes in parks and recreation areas managed by local governments, the News-Press reported.
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