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Deys take bluebirds to Butler County Fair
by Marilyn Dey
When Butler County Coordinator Doug Dey and his wife,
Marilyn, of Gresham, Neb., signed up for a booth at the county fair, he
had no idea the amount of interest that would be generated by his
display. Dey was very optimistic. He had a goal in mind and the end
result was pretty exciting.
Dey was pleasantly surprised as many families stopped to take a second
look at all the information on display. He shared his knowledge of the
bluebird as well as experiences that he has had with his bluebird trail
of 60 houses. There were many folks that didn’t realize that the
bluebird was once common to this area and many were fascinated by the
beautiful chirping sound of the bluebird.
A framed poster of cavity dwelling birds was the central visual point of
the booth. Dey used a television to play the two videos which presented
interesting information about the nesting habits of the bluebird. The
video showing the pair of bluebirds building the nest, laying and
incubating the eggs, hatching, feeding for 18 days, and finally the
fledging of the baby bluebirds captured everyone’s interest.
Special thanks to Denny Cradick for sharing his rack which displayed
BAN’s three most popular nesting boxes. Dey tucked a bluebird nest into
one of the boxes which attracted the interest of both young and old
alike. Perched on top of one of the nesting boxes was an animated
motion-activated bluebird which greeted the onlookers as they stopped to
take a look.
An article by Editor Larry Pearce that appeared in the “David City
Banner Press,” featuring longtime Butler County bluebirder Stan Shavlik,
drew attention to the fact that BAN would have a booth at the fair. Many
people were intrigued by Stan’s bluebirding experiences and made a point
to stop by the booth to ask questions. Dey was privileged to have Stan
share the booth with him on Saturday afternoon. Walt Crook of Rising
City, NE also assisted Dey at the booth.
At the close of the fair, Dey had signed up 15 new families and renewed
one membership in Bluebirds Across Nebraska. Dey had exceeded his goal
and is making plans to return next year.
[As BAN’s newest county coordinator, Doug jumped right in. Thanks Doug!]
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