Eagle Scout Goes Batty at Quinta Mazatlan

Seventeen-year-old Amado Moreno III resident of Edinburg, recently completed an Eagle Scout bat house project at Quinta Mazatlán World Birding Center. Moreno was joined by family and friends to complete the installation of twelve bat houses at the urban sanctuary in McAllen. Moreno attends school at South Texas High School for Health Professions in Mercedes, Texas.

Amado Moreno III is a member of troop 41 he was first introduced to the Scouts Program in kindergarten and has been an active member ever since. As his last project on his journey to become an Eagle, Moreno chose to construct and install bat houses to serve as a shelter for bats to roost. Twelve houses were constructed and placed in strategic locations around Quinta Mazatlán. These houses had to meet specific guidelines established by Bat Conservation International.  Guidelines were specific in the size, materials used, and the color and paint needed to promote a healthy bat population. As the head of the project, Moreno was responsible for organizing the helpers and the work detail.  When asked what he found interesting about the project Moreno had this to say “What interested me was that bats are a natural pest control and are better than man made pesticides. A single bat can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes or 60 medium-size moths in a single hour. Most bats are not dangerous at all. They are actually very beneficial to humans. The fruit–eating and nectar-eating bats pollinate many plants.” Moreno invites all to Quinta Mazatlán to view these important contributors to the environment.

 

Eagle Scout helps Clean up Secret Garden

Fourteen year old Andres Pequeno of Edinburg recently completed an Eagle Scout project at Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center. He and his supporters helped clean and establish a “Secret Garden” area to provide native habitat for our valley’s wildlife.  After ridding the area of invasive guinea grass, they planted native plants like pigeon berry, kidneywood, and Turk’s cap to reforest the area.

Scouts remove invasive plants as part of the Secret Garden clean up.

 

Pequeno is a part of Troop 40 and has been a scout for eight years.  He wanted to do a project that would help wildlife and the community. When asked why being a scout is important, Pequeno responded, “I have learned to be prepared and to give back to my community.  Learning new things, making new friends, and learning to be a better person is the best thing about being a scout.”  He says the Law Merit Badge is his favorite and the Camping Badge was the hardest to earn.  “For the Law Merit Badge, I was able to participate in a mock trial where I played the part of a defense attorney and kept my client from being sentenced to death. Camping has been the hardest merit badge that I have earned because it has a lot of requirements.”

A marker is installed to celebrate completion of the project.

Pequeno has some great advice for those that are interested in trying new things: “I think that if you are interested in something, you should do it because you don’t want to lose the opportunity of being able to try something that you might end up loving.”  He also had some people he wished to thank.  “I would like to thank Troop 40 and my merit badge counselors. I would like to thank my parents for pushing me and for being there for my scouting adventures. I would also like to thank anybody else that helped me on my journey to Eagle. I would most importantly like to thank God for allowing me to be where I am today.”

Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center hosts scout projects year-round.  If you are interested in doing a project, please contact Joe Zuniga at jlzuniga@mcallen.net.  Quinta Mazatlan is located one block south of La Plaza Mall on 600 Sunset Drive, McAllen, TX.  For more information visit http://www.quintamazatlan.com or call (956) 681-3700.