Brantford family restoring destroyed birdwatching trail and birdhouses

A Brantford man and his daughters have taken it upon themselves to restore a birdwatching path that was destroyed by vandalism earlier in December.

The trail, once adorned with 150 birdhouses, now has mostly empty trees and remnants of birdhouses left behind.

The vandalism left approximately 110 birdhouses damaged, with a few others ripped down and thrown into the woods.

Chris Wilson, who helped create the trail during the pandemic, discovered the destruction during his daily walk.

The incident, which occurred earlier in December near the Grand River in Brantford, left Wilson and members of the community working to repair the damage.

Wilson has already repaired 110 birdhouses, about two-thirds of the total.

At the start of the trail, Wilson typically leaves unpainted birdhouses for community members to take home, decorate, and return to be placed along the path.

However, no unpainted birdhouses remain after the vandalism.

Not all hope is lost, though. Wilson’s daughters created a Facebook group to rally community support for rebuilding.

The community response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Local schools and individuals have stepped up to help, with one Montessori school building and painting 10 birdhouses, and a resident repairing 15 broken ones.