By Holly Heller Enquirer Editor
    BREMEN —  Zorro, a baby cedar waxwing bird, will soon have a new home at the wetland area of Sunnyside Park in Bremen.
    And Pat Knight, the rehabilitator with Songbirds of Northern Indiana who has nurtured him, thinks he will like it.
    “This is beautiful. There are plenty of berries and bugs to eat. Predators are scarce. There’s water, cover, everything they need,” she said.
    Zorro is one of several cedar waxwings and bluebirds to be released at the wetlands in the next week or so, thanks to a cooperative effort with the Bremen Conservation Club. Members of the club have built and donated 18 bluebird houses and three wood duck houses for the wetland area.

 “If they’re released here, chances are they’ll come back and breed,” Knight said. “These houses are for the birds to reproduce in, so that we have more and more birds, instead of going the other way and seeing them endangered or extinct.”
    Some of the bird houses are already in place, but the remainder will be erected next spring, after another phase of development is completed on the area. That phase begins next week, when the weedy, grassy hill leading down to the kidney-shaped pond will cleared. Then, in September, warm season grasses and prairie grasses will be planted to create a meadow habitat.
    The Bremen Conservation Club also supports the cause by making annual financial donations to both Pat Knight and another bird rehabilitator, Diane Kuhl of The Kuhl Spot in New Carlisle. Every year for the past decade, the club has raised around $500 for them. This year, the club added a third beneficiary — Aldona Martin of Bremen, a rehabilitator of small mammals like skunks, raccoons, possums, groundhogs, bats, squirrels and fawns.
    The club raises the funds through collecting and selling aluminum cans. Previously, all cans were collected in a homemade bin located at the Lake of the Woods Community Building, where the group meets.
    Now, Allied Waste has donated a second collection bin, which will be located at the North Marshall Street brush collection area in Bremen. Here, anyone is welcome to toss in aluminum cans to help support the Conservation Club’s effort to raise funds for the rehabilitators.
    “I think it’s just great that we are able to provide the box for them,” said Ray Branham, route supervisor for Allied Waste.
    Doug Stanifer, president of the Conservation Club, explained the club’s role in supporting bird and small mammal rehabilitators.
    “That’s part of what the club stands for — helping wildlife,” he said. “We feel it’s a good contribution to give to wildlife and nature. This is one thing we can do.”
    The rehabilitators are grateful for the Conservation Club’s support.
    “It’s fabulous!” Knight said. “It’s so commendable of both Allied Waste and the Bremen Conservation Club.”
    She appreciates the monetary donation and support she has received from the club in recent years.
    “The money goes for the purpose of restocking the pantry. Once a year, the club invites me to speak. The club put up the aviary for me that looks out over the Yellow River. Last year, they put a roof on it. To have somebody come over and help you or to call you every year for a report, to be tickled to get your newsletter . . .it’s great!”
    Martin is pleased that the club is working with the town of Bremen to help develop the wetland area.
    “It’s great, especially being this close to town. For the kids to be able to experience wildlife, to understand how important it is at an early age and to not be afraid of it, that’s important.”