Blenheim-Gilboa Bluebird Trail

The eastern bluebird, the state bird of both New York and Missouri, has long symbolized happiness, good health, and hope in North America. It appeared in Native American art and folklore, and hollowed gourds were hung to attract bluebirds to nest near settlements. Early Europeans were captivated by the bird’s brilliant color and saw it as representing the beauty and wonders of the new world. The bluebird was one of the first birds given a scientific name, and its scientific name, Sialia sialis, means “a kind of bird” in Greek. From 1920-1970, the bluebird population declined so severely that birders feared it would soon be extinct, driven by habitat loss, pesticide use, weather changes, dead tree removal, house cats, and especially competition from the introduced House Sparrow and European Starling. Because bluebirds nest in cavities but cannot create their own, they depend on old woodpecker holes or natural cavities in dead trees, and the more aggressive sparrows and starlings often drove them from their nests. In response to this decline, the North American Bluebird Society was formed in 1978 by citizen scientists and birders, who improved bluebird boxes and created trail networks to install boxes and monitor population numbers and health. The Blenheim-Gilboa Bluebird Trail, established by the Schoharie County Bluebird Society in the mid 1980's, includes 22 bluebird boxes along two trail loops connected by a 2/3 mile stretch of the Long Path, within 2.7 miles of trails linking Mine Kill State Park and the New York Power Authority Visitors Center.

Blenheim, New York · United States