Birds of a feather flock together at Harrison Hills Park for annual Great Backyard Bird Count
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Like most birding enthusiasts, Jessica Lakari looks forward to every chance to get out in the woods to glimpse the colorful and often complex behavior of winged creatures.
So when birders from around the Alle-Kiski Valley gathered at Harrison Hill Park this weekend for the Great Backyard Bird Count, she saw it is a chance to bring others under her wing.
Lakari of West Deer, who has completed a master program offered by the Audubon Society, coaxed her mother and several friends to join her for a day of hiking in the park in search of birds.
“I like to be outside and I love the birds,” she said. “And I want them to love the birds, too.”
The Backyard Bird Count runs from Friday through Monday and invites people around the world to time in the woods making observations. The information is submitted to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y., to help scientists there better understand global bird populations prior to one of their annual migrations.
Lakari’s mother, Maureen Sagrati, admits that her daughter “sort of had to drag me into it” when she was organizing the outing. But once she hit the trails during Saturday’s brisk, sunny morning, she became a convert.
“I love it,” she said as the group headed back to the park’s environmental center. “I’ll definitely come back out; it was really enjoyable.”
Dave Brooke is a member of the Friends of Harrison Hills Park group and helps coordinate the Bird Count and other ornithology programs. He said while important information for the Cornell Lab is gathered during weekend, it’s also a chance to introduce birding to people who might only have a casual interest.
“I think the thing that attracts people to watching birds after they give it a try is the fact that while these creatures are all around us everywhere, for the most part, we just walk past them without ever noticing them,” he said.
“But once you start getting out there you will notice the different patterns they follow, the variety of colors and the different songs that are produced,” said Brooke, 68, of Harrison. “You will come to appreciate just how beautiful these creatures are.”
He said birds are also of great interest because “unlike every other animal that is earthbound, birds can fly, which I think makes them attractive to us.”
Brooke encourages people who use the park to hike and jog to consider changing their habits if they wear earphones.
“When I’m out hiking and I see someone on the trail wearing earphones to listen to music, I can’t help but think about what they are missing,” he said. “Not just the beautiful bird songs, but the sounds of other creatures that are worth experiencing. There’s a lot worth hearing and seeing out there if people will give it a chance.”
For the past five years, Dave Rizzo of Sharpsburg has been helping with a bluebird box program operate by the the park’s environmental center to help promote the health of the bluebird population.
“When I started, I didn’t know anything about bluebirds,” Rizzo said. “I work indoors but I love to be outside, so this was a way for me to do that.”
Rizzo said tending to the bluebird boxes scattered throughout the park provides great insight into the intricate workings of nature.
“Starting around April, we’ll be out checking for nests inside the boxes,” he said. “Before long the eggs will start showing up, and then we’ll monitor the hatchlings and then the fledglings. It’s interesting to see how vulnerable these hatchlings are and how the parents run back and forth from the trees to the box to feed them.”
To increase the chances for the birds’ survival, the boxes have been outfitted with a device that makes it difficult for predators such as raccoon to get to them.
Mackenzie Schnur, 8, of Mars, who was with a group participating in the bird count for the first time, said she had a lot of fun being outdoors looking for birds, but she wasn’t expecting the surprise she got Saturday.
“I really liked seeing the eagles,” she said. “They are pretty big. It was cool to see them so close.”
Schnur said the eagles were so close she could make out details without the need for binoculars.
Brooke said the eagles are regularly seen in the park, but staff and volunteers have not yet been able to find the location of the nest.
“We’ve looked and looked but can’t find it,” he said. “We’re not sure if the eagles are traveling here from another location of if they are nesting in a spot that we just can’t see. But we’ll keep searching.”