Mr. Bluebird

By Pamela Crowe

	Mr. Briggs loves bluebirds and has drawn many people to his cause.

Ray Briggs comes from a family that fights for important causes. His grandfathers from way back fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Ray Briggs’s cause is the eastern bluebird, the official bird of New York State.

Born in 1924, Mr. Briggs has lived his entire life on the Cobleskill, New York, farm that has been in his family since 1760. As a boy, he used to see almost as many bluebirds as robins on the farm.

Then something changed: fewer and fewer bluebirds returned in the spring. They disappeared from Mr. Briggs’s farm. Their numbers dropped all over the United States. By the 1970s many young people had never seen a bluebird.

Bluebird numbers had dropped because the birds couldn’t find places to nest. These birds are called cavity nesters because they build their nests in small hollow spaces. For many years, they had nested in the holes of old apple trees and rotted fence posts. But many old trees had been cut down, and wooden fence posts had been replaced with metal ones.

Also, other cavity-nesting birds, such as starlings and English sparrows, often forced bluebirds out of the few nesting holes that remained.

Bluebirds had declined for another reason, too. They couldn’t find enough food. They eat insects they capture in fields or lawns. But cities had been built where fields had once been, and pesticides had been used to kill off insects.

They're back! A male bluebird brings an insect as food to the nest.

A Friend to Bluebirds
Ray Briggs wanted to help. By the 1960s, when he had become a part-time teacher, he knew of only two places where bluebirds could be found. He took his wildlife-conservation students to see them. “Once they saw the bluebirds, they were hooked,” he says. The students wanted to help bluebirds, too.

One way to help bluebirds is to give them a nest box. Mr. Briggs and his students set up nest boxes on their own properties, free from pesticides. Bluebirds began to use the boxes.

While Mr. Briggs was putting up a nest box beside Route 20, he looked up and down the road. Pesticide use had gone down, so he knew he was looking at ideal bluebird territory. “Why not cover the whole county with nest boxes?” he wondered.

After he retired from teaching in 1983, he formed the Schoharie County Bluebird Society. “We would hold a meeting and say, ‘Anyone who attends can get a free nest box,’” Mr. Briggs says. “Well, man, did they ever turn out!”

People would see the beautiful birds flying in and out of neighbors’ nest boxes and would want a box for themselves. Nest boxes sprouted in lawns and fields all over Schoharie County.

When bluebirds find safe places to nest near plenty of food, they return to those sites year after year. Increasing numbers have returned to Schoharie County ever since Mr. Briggs and others started putting up nest boxes.

“Because of that early start, Schoharie County is now the bluebird capital of New York State,” says Mr. Briggs. “Surveys show that Schoharie County fledges (raises) more bluebirds than any other county in the state.”

Ray Briggs hatched another idea. He imagined a row of nest boxes that stretched beyond Schoharie County. It would go all across New York State along Route 20. He imagined those houses filled with blue occupants.

In 1990, Mr. Briggs became the president of the New York State Bluebird Society. As president, he enlisted many others to help make his dream come true. Begun in 1993, the Route 20 Bluebird Research Trail was completed in 1996. The 375-mile trail comprises about 1,700 nest boxes. All yellow, the nest boxes are of different designs. Researchers test different nest-box styles on the trail.

The shoebox-size yellow boxes attract attention. People want to know where they can get nest boxes. “It’s great for public awareness,” Mr. Briggs says.

	New York Governor George Pataki (far right) honored Mr. Briggs (and his nest boxes) for helping the state bird.

In the Spotlight
He means awareness of bluebirds, but the spotlight shines on him, too. In August 1998, New York’s governor, George Pataki, recognized Mr. Briggs for helping New York’s state bird.

The ceremony, attended by dignitaries, was a bit frightening for the Cobleskill farmer. But it was a proud occasion, too. The governor announced that the bluebird is secure in New York and has been removed from the list of animals that are in danger of becoming extinct in the state.

Governor Pataki gave Briggs the first in a new series of New York State bluebird license plates. They display the initials RDB, for “Ray D. Briggs.”

Now, when Ray Briggs brings in his cows from the pasture, he sees bluebirds. He says, “When I see that beautiful flash, when they fly and the sun hits them, I say all the hard work is worthwhile.”

Build a bluebird box! Click here for instructions.