On May 4, 1894, Bird Day was first observed at the initiative of Charles Almanzo Babcock, superintendent of schools in Oil City, Pennsylvania. By 1910, Bird Day was widely celebrated, often in conjunction with Arbor Day. Statewide observances of the two holidays inculcated conservation training and awareness in a broad spectrum of the public, especially school children. To learn more about the history of these holidays and their role in the Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920, see Arbor and Bird Day Observance, c.1872-1920: Additional Resources in the Library of Congress.
In 1897, pioneering ornithologists Mabel Osgood Wright and Elliott Coues and artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes collaborated on Citizen Bird. Written in an entertaining and fanciful style and dedicated to "All Boys and Girls Who Love Birds and Wish to Protect Them," the popular classic encourages the love of birds and respect for their place in the natural cycle:
Bluebirds have a call-note and a sweet warbling song....He is true blue, which is as rare a color among birds as it is among flowers. He is the banner-bearer of Birdland also, and loyally floats the tricolor from our trees and telegraph wires; for, besides being blue, is he not also red and white?As a Citizen the Bluebird is in every way a model. He works with the Ground Gleaners in searching the grass and low bushes for grasshoppers and crickets; he searches the trees for caterpillars in company with the Tree Trappers; and in eating blueberries, cranberries, wild grapes, and other fruits he works with the Seed Sowers also. So who would not welcome this bird, who pays his rent and taxes in so cheerful a manner, and thanks you with a song into the bargain?
Mabel Osgood Wright and Elliott Coues, Citizen Bird, page 90.
Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
- Discover other important dates in the history of conservation. View the special presentation Documentary Chronology of Selected Events in the Development of the American Conservation Movement, 1847-1920.
- Read observations about bird life by naturalists and find Acts of Congress related to the protection of birds. Search on bird in Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920.
- From the Collection Connections section of the Learning Page select the collection Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920. There you will find ideas for using that collection to teach and to learn more.
- Search on the keyword bird in The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820 to see ornithological biographies by Alexander Wilson and by John James Audubon.
- View photographs of birds. Search on bird in Washington as It Was, 1923-1959.
- Also, be sure to see the Today in History feature on artist and naturalist John James Audubon, famous for his drawings and paintings of North American birds
