Ben Gormley is a young Eagle Scout in Indiana with a dedication to conservation and community involvement. A recipient of the William T. Hornaday Badge for distinguished service in natural resource conservation, Ben helped start the first monofilament fishing line recycling program in Indiana, directed a project to remove invasive honeysuckle from a large local park, and led a series of Leave No Trace activities with the local community, to say nothing of the other accomplishments indicated by his 137 out of 137 available Merit Badges!
Now, Ben is striving for a distinguished Hornaday Medal with his latest worthy enterprise: get a Boy Scouts of America (BSA) troop in every state in the country to participate in a bird count. His hope is that this nationwide project will increase scouts’ awareness of their local avifauna, and we think this is a great way to bring the BSA together to learn how to maintain bird-friendly habitat in their neighborhoods!
So far, Ben has worked with his fellow Scouts to construct and place ten nestboxes in public park areas in their community and nearby.
Here’s a shout-out to the Troops that have signed themselves up to celebrate birds so far:
- Alaska Troop 229
- Connecticut Troop 175
- Delaware Troop 24
- Georgia Troop 522
- Idaho Troop 201
- Illinois Troop 96
- Indiana Troop 202
- Iowa Troop 182
- Michigan Troop 755
- Montana Troop 1911
- Nebraska Troop 25
- New Mexico Troop 166
- Oklahoma Troop 168
- Oregon Troop 1
- South Dakota Troop 131
- Texas Troop 365
- Vermont Troop 611
- Wisconsin Troop 62
- Wyoming Troop 221
Keep coming back to this page to watch the list grow and get updates on when the big Boy Scouts bird count will happen!