America’s Birdhouse Capital

This beaver birdhouse graces front of Gary Carpenter’s Delta Hardare in Elaine, Arkansas. Mr. Beaver is one of more than 670 birdhouses in pubic view in Elaine, Arkansas, “America’s Birdhouse Capital.”

The difference at Elaine

A small Delta town to whom history has not been kind is an appellation which accurately applies to a legion of miniscule southern municipalities. Elaine, Arkansas is one of those, but there’s a difference there. The folks at Elaine have banded together to make a new name for themselves as “America’s Birdhouse Capital.”

Click the pic for the “rest of the story” and more pictures from Elaine.

Their decision is not an accident. They were looking for a way to engage the young people of their town in a wholesome and fulfilling activity.

During a meeting of volunteers exploring the possibilities for such an activity, the idea came up and initially brought a few laughs including a chuckle or two from the originator, Pat Kienzel, an Elaine volunteer and school counselor from Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Later, laughs aside, after some more thinking, Kienzel and the group decided that was the way to go. Find out more about how the birdhouse idea germinated and came to fruition on the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot-com where this story started. We’ll wait here for your return.

A bunch of birdhouses

Once the program got underway and gained steam, volunteers peppered the landscape with birdhouses. Here are a few of those:

At the top of the “I didn’t expect to see this list” are two truck bird houses attached to the walls of an old service station in Elaine.

Just around the corner from the trucks are these more traditional birdhouses.

One more birdhouse at the old service station.

The next four birdhouses live in shrubs behind the “Elaine Arkansas” sign on the north side of the town on Arkansas State Highway 44. See the sign at Corndancer dot-com.

This birdhouse greets travelers as they come to Elaine from the north on Arkansas Highway 44.

White birdhouse, ditto location.

Striped chicken-bucket like birdhouse, ditto on the location.

A Miami looking birdhouse in Elaine, ditto on the exact location.

An old-codger birdhouse at Gary Carpenter’s Delta Hardware in Elaine.

Another birdhouse from Delta Hardware. This time it’s a Floyd R. Turbo model.

Three neat birdhouses grace this Elaine tree.

Dig this yellow high-rise birdhouse with vine decor.

A curious fox squirrel checks out a birdhouse.

The Elaine birdhouse team puts ’em anywhere.

When they find an ugly corner in Elaine, the emergency birdhouse crew installs a remediation birdhouse.

You gotta love what they’re doing in Elaine. We believe it’s going to get even better. It will be fun to watch.

See all 59 pictures we shot on this trip to Elaine in our America’s Bird Capital gallery.

Thanks for looking.

Joe Dempsey,
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind

http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.htm

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