Nichols dove headfirst into helping the small bird — a classic underdog in the world of flight — with the same enthusiasm she dedicated to other causes earlier in her life.
The Maryland Bluebird Society (MBS) hopes to honor Nichols by naming a bluebird house trail in Middletown Park after her. Nichols, who lived in Middletown for four decades, established and maintained the trail of 10 nesting boxes that dot the park.
The proposal is scheduled to go before Frederick County commissioners on March 25. If approved, the society plans to dedicate the trail on April 19.
According to Kathy Kremnitzer, Maryland Bluebird Society secretary, bluebirds are battling a number of negative factors: damaging pesticides, disappearance of their natural habitat and the dominance of non-native, more aggressive species such as the house sparrow.
Kremnitzer became involved with the maintenance of bluebird trails in the county a few years ago. She started volunteering in Middletown Park in 2005.
‘‘... As I monitored the trail, neighbors would come and tell me stories [about Betty Nichols],” she said. ‘‘I was fascinated.”
Nichols had maintained the trail for 10 years until her death in 2003.
‘‘Everyone who knew her in Middletown eventually wound up having bluebird houses in their yard,” Chuck Nichols said.
Nichols’ husband, Charles, helped build the boxes. Betty maintained them by checking on their condition, cleaning them between nestings, ensuring bluebirds only were nesting in the boxes and supplementing their diet in lean winter months.
Fawzi Emad, a friend of Nichols and a bird lover himself, established the bluebird society in 2004, after Nichols’ death. But he said Nichols was a key component in the society’s creation.
‘‘Before she passed away, I promised her I would start a bluebird society,” Emad said. At the time, societies existed in Pennsylvania and Virginia, but not in Maryland.
The society now has about 50 members; naming the trail after Nichols is its first big project, Kremnitzer said.
In accordance with the Frederick County park, facility, and memorial naming policy, the society submitted paperwork to a county committee for review, and now must go before county commissioners for final approval.
‘‘Everyone I talk to says she would get a real kick out of this whole thing,” Kremnitzer said. ‘‘I think if it helps educate and keep interest in bluebirds then it would make her happy.”
Emad cites the efforts of Nichols and others like her as the cause of the resurgence of a normal bluebird population.
Nichols’ son said his mother would be honored that society members are continuing her work.
In 2002, weakened by her fight with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Nichols called her son on a particularly harsh winter morning to help her walk the bluebird trail, he recalled. Despite her weakened condition, and the poor weather, she was worried about the birds who had not migrated, and provided mealworms for them to eat.
‘‘It wasn’t a job,” Chuck Nichols said, ‘‘it was a passion. She didn’t do it for the attention, she did it for the bluebirds.”
Miracle meal
Bluebird enthusiast Betty Nichols created this recipe as a high-calorie supplement for bluebirds in the winter months.
4 cups yellow corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup lard or melted suet
1 teaspoon corn oil
Melt lard and stir in other ingredients. Spike with sunflower hearts, peanut hearts, or chopped, soaked raisins, as desired. Let set. Cut into chunks. Feed as suet or crumple into small pieces.
