Known as Cobb’s “Bluebird Guy,” Jim Bearden now has been recognized across the state as the Volunteer of the Year by the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association.
Bearden became known as the “Bluebird Guy” after taking his dog Daisy on a walk in 2010 at Cobb County’s Green Meadows Preserve on Dallas Highway.
The next year at Green Meadows Preserve, Bearden installed the first Bluebird NestBox upon the garden fence, resulting in six new Bluebirds.
Since then, his Bluebird Trail Project at Green Meadows Preserve has hatched more than 1,800 Bluebirds from the NestBoxes monitored by Bearden.
To inform the public, Bearden hosts and manages the Green Meadows Preserve Bluebird Trail website (BluebirdTrail.blogspot.com).
From that website, he also promotes other park programs, including the Friends of Green Meadows Preserve and the Green Meadows Community Garden.
In his efforts to become a more impactful volunteer, Bearden successfully completed The University of Georgia Master Gardener Program in 2013.
Since then, he has logged more than 3,000 volunteer hours through the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County system.
His volunteer hours have included providing public tours and distributing information to more than 5,000 visitors through conversations, tours, talks, phone calls and emails about the Bluebird Trail, Community Garden, Cherokee/Period Garden and Green Meadows Preserve.
Beyond Green Meadows Preserve, Bearden has established Bluebird nesting boxes at Mount Paran Christian School, a Stone Mountain middle school, an Ellijay park and the Sterling Senior Campus in West Cobb.
Many of them have been taught by Bearden how to monitor and report Bluebird activity to NestWatch through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Bearden also is a member and supporter of the North American Bluebird Society, Georgia & National Audubon Societies, National Wildlife Federation and National Parks Conservation Association.
Information: CobbCounty.org
