It’s World Migratory Bird Day this Saturday, and the public is invited to a celebration from 8 a.m. until noon at the Frick Environmental Center in Squirrel Hill with many opportunities to learn about ways to conserve them.
The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, in partnership with local community organizations, is sponsoring the free inclusive event that will offer attendees a chance to get up close and personal with birds and insects through engaging and immersive programming for all to enjoy.
In honor of this year’s international theme, “Protect Insects. Protect Birds,” the Parks Conservancy’s naturalist educators have curated an extensive lineup of events, according to a news release. This will include intersectional and accessible birding, discovery time, planting in the From Slavery to Freedom Garden, a birds and insect stream study, and various family friendly activities with the Pittsburgh Park Rangers, the National Aviary and the Allegheny Land Trust.
Stephen Bucklin, a conservancy naturalist educator and bird expert, spearheaded the Parks Conservancy’s participation in the global campaign and underscored the importance of this internal celebration.
“World Migratory Bird Day is important because so many people don’t know how incredible the phenomenon of bird migration is and how much power we have to improve not only the lives of birds but our lives as well by noticing the impact of our actions,” Bucklin explained in the news release. “It’s remarkable how much you can notice when you just look up.”
Many of Pittsburgh’s parks enable residents to observe migratory birds stopping for rest and food along their journeys, according to the news release. Clayton Hill in Frick Park, for example, has long been a prime stopover site for songbirds traveling through Pittsburgh.
Select events require preregistration at the conservancy website. All programming is free of charge and appropriate for various ages and all abilities.
World Migratory Bird Day was founded in 1993 by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and aims to boost the urgent need for migratory bird conservation globally through international cooperation and promotion of the planet’s major migratory bird corridors, particularly in the Western Hemisphere. Since 2007, IMBD has been coordinated by Environment for the Americas, a nonprofit organization that strives to connect people to bird conservation.
Additional program partners for the conservancy’s event this year include Allegheny Goatscape, Bird Lab, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Intersectional Bird Club of Pittsburgh, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the Allegheny Bird Conservation Alliance.
Programs at the Frick Environmental Center are supported by the taxpayers of Allegheny County through a public grant from the Allegheny Regional Asset District.
For more information about the Parks Conservancy and its programs, visit www.pittsburghparks.org.
The link to learn more about the event and preregister for some events is https://pittsburghparks.org/World-Migratory-Bird-Day.
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