Birds of a feather flock together and Jimmy Sunbury now lives that title: He is not just a Golden Eagle, he’s an Eagle Scout.
A senior at Seneca High School, Sunbury completed his project of building wood duck houses for birds at Boundary Creek Natural Resource Area in Moorestown and Pennington Park in Delanco in January.
Houses are for the wood duck birds, who typically take over an abandoned woodpecker hole. The colorful birds nest within the structures, according to the National Audubon Society.
“I’ve always loved going to the parks around here,” Sunbury said. “One of the assistant scoutmasters in my old troop is a (park) ranger, and I asked him if there were any projects that needed to be done.
“I felt like it would be a wonderful thing to do.”
Not every step in the project was a smooth ride. Constant rain tested Sunbury and his team of volunteers: at some points, the mud was 6 inches to a foot deep.
“Some people lost their boots,” Sunbury said, laughing. “It was definitely one of the more lighthearted moments.”
For his project, the 18-year-old mulled over mile markers for a canoe trail or building a labyrinth for his church, but decided on the duck houses because he loved the outdoors when he lived in Everett, Pennsylvania. The same goes for Tabernacle.
Sunbury’s interest in Boy Scouts was birthed when he was in kindergarten and brought a flyer on scouting to his mom, who informed him he was too young to join the Cub Scouts. A few years later — after a move to the township — he did.
An aspiring electrical and computer engineer, Sunbury hopes to use his skills in the industry to benefit the outdoors and “help in the prevention of many things that we can do now.” He works with other Seneca students in Project Lead the Way to conceive a solution for a “significant problem in the world.”
The inspired Scout hopes to eventually become a teacher in physics or computer engineering, but along the way, Sunbury wants to help his younger brother obtain his title as soon as possible.
“My birthday was a week ago, and I didn’t have a whole lot of time to get my work together,” Sunbury added.
Sunbury admitted he’s no different now than before he attained the Scout honor: He’s the same kid.
“It’s not the rank that makes you everything who you are,” he concluded. “It’s what you’ve learned along the way.“
