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-Photos courtesy Kristye Steed
Kristye Steed, wildlife rehabilitator and daughter of Frank “The Bluebird Man” Newell III, appeared on WIZS’ Town Talk Monday at 11 a.m.
A long-time wildlife rehabilitator and Warren County native, Newell, age 80, died peacefully at home on November 7, 2020.
Newell served active duty in the US Army for 38 years and as an NC State and Federal Wildlife Rehabilitator for more than 60 years. Steed said her father saved the lives of thousands of sick and injured animals, rehabilitating them on the family farm and releasing them back into their natural habitat.
According to Steed, upon retiring from the military, Newell began to notice that the changing landscape was affecting the population of the Eastern Bluebird in Warren County.
“He noticed that hardwoods and forests had been cleared, and most wooden posts had been replaced with metal posts.” Steed explained, “Bluebirds are cavity nesters; they can’t build a nest on a tree limb like a robin or a cardinal.”
It was a chance encounter with a bluebird that gave Newell a sense of direction in how to solve that problem. Steed said, “He always told the story that he was sitting on his front porch one morning, drinking a cup of coffee, and saw a bluebird in the dogwood tree next to him. He felt like it was a sign that the bluebird was asking to have a home built. So, he went to his woodshop and started building a bluebird house.”
What started at a pace of approximately two bluebird homes completed each weekend grew to include “hundreds of volunteers” that have completed 365,000 houses to date. Newell’s bluebird houses have been distributed to all 50 US states as well as several other countries.
Steed said many of the volunteer builders are members of the Lake Gaston Striper Club that “fish in the summer and build bluebird houses in the winter.”
Once considered an endangered species due to their decline, the work of Newell’s Eastern Bluebird Rescue Group resulted in the removal of bluebirds from the list. “That is one of his major accomplishments in life,” Steed said. “In fact, Warren County Commissioners deemed Warren County the bluebird capital of the world several years ago.”
In addition to bluebirds, Steed said Newell was also well-known for his work with wolves. “They are his second love,” remarked Steed. “They are often portrayed as big, bad and angry in stories like ‘Little Red Riding Hood,’ but they are actually very docile animals.”
Acquiring several wolves from a zoo in Ohio, Newell used the animals for educational purposes, conducting lectures and programs for schools, scouts, church groups and more.
With his recent passing, Steed said she and her family plan to honor her father’s legacy by keeping the bluebird operation and the wildlife rehabilitation going. So far this year, the family has released 39 baby fawns in addition to numerous squirrels, rabbits, hawks and eagles.
To hear the interview in its entirety, go to WIZS.com and click on Town Talk.
