The VCU Rice Center serves as the summer nesting area for thousands of Prothonotary Warblers every year. Arriving in April from their winter nesting area in the Caribbean and South America, the Warblers take up residence at VCU in nesting boxes built by volunteers at the first annual NOAA Restoration Day in Virginia. The Prothonotary Warbler is on the national watch list because of its decline in many areas and widespread threats to its habitat. Also known as the Golden Swamp Warbler, the bird is a striking bright orange-yellow color and measures about five inches long. It flies only at night during migration and breeds throughout the southeastern United States and in southern Canada. The birds are expected to remain at the Rice Center through early August.

Volunteers proudly display the nesting boxes they made for Prothonotary Warblers during NOAA Restoration Day in Virginia	VCU's Dr. Bob Reilly teaches volunteers how to build nesting boxes for the Prothonotary Warblers
NOAA's Steve Ellis and US Fish and Wildlife Service volunteer Sumalee Hoskin build their first nesting box.	A student from I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth, Virginia, installs the nesting box she made