BSA Troop 72 scout Caroline Newby completes Eagle project

By Alana Moehring Mallard

Caroline Newby, a scout with BSA Troop 72, recently completed her Eagle Scout project, a bird viewing blind on the Trinity Woods Preserve that will be used by Trinity Episcopal School students where she is a ninth grader. The blind includes species ID cards and tips on reducing light pollution.

Caroline said her project grew out of a summer trip to Camp Merriwether in Oregon.

“I noticed millions of stars, the Milky Way, satellites, and many constellations,” she said. Back in Austin what Caroline saw in the night sky was yellowishgray with only a few of the brightest stars visible.

“I decided the best way to teach students about light pollution was to first show them the wildlife in our school’s own woods,” Caroline said. “My former science teacher, Mr. Earley, shared with me the names of migratory birds he has seen on the Trinity Preserve.

Species included the orangecrowned warbler, the rubycrowned kinglet, the yellowrumped warbler, robins, cedar waxwings, blue-grey gnatcatchers, white-eyed vireos, indigo and painted buntings, and the goldencheeked warbler.

“With the help of my scout troop, Uncle Matt and my family, we constructed a bird blind so that students could unobtrusively watch for these birds. Once they say how beautiful they are, I knew that they would want to help protect their habitat— which includes the night sky. I added hooked flipbooks of bird identification cards, as well as tips on how to decrease light pollution.”

Caroline’s research taught her that about one billion birds migrate through

Texas each year, and night lighting presents serious problems for many birds.

“I also encourage people to follow the 5 Principles of Responsible Outdoor Lighting, which includes adjusting to downward facing and purposefully directed lights, utilizing timers/motion sensing light practices, and yellow light bulbs instead of bright white bulbs.” See travisauddubon. org/lights-out-texas and darksky.org for more info. Troop 72 is chartered by Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church. Caroline’s parents are Milam and Tory Newby, and Caroline will at attend Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire for high school.