Birds of a feather flock together at Harrison Hills Park for annual Great Backyard Bird Count

Like most birding lovers, Jessica Lakeri seems to be ahead to each prospect to get out in the woods to glimpse the colourful and usually intricate conduct of winged creatures.

So when birders from all around the Alle-Kiski Valley gathered at Harrison Hill Park this weekend for the Terrific Backyard Bird Count, she observed it is a prospect to provide other people beneath her wing.

Lakori of West Deer, who has completed a grasp plan offered by the Audubon Society, coaxed her mom and a number of friends to sign up for her for a working day of mountaineering in the park in search of birds.

“I like to be outside and I love the birds,” she stated. “And I want them to enjoy the birds, way too.”

The Backyard Hen Depend runs from Friday via Monday and invitations folks close to the environment to time in the woods building observations. The information and facts is submitted to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y., to aid experts there much better comprehend world fowl populations prior to a single of their once-a-year migrations.

Lakori’s mother, Maureen Sagrati, admits that her daughter “sort of experienced to drag me into it” when she was arranging the outing. But when she hit the trails through Saturday’s brisk, sunny early morning, she became a convert.

“I adore it,” she mentioned as the group headed back again to the park’s environmental middle. “I’ll unquestionably come back again out it was genuinely pleasing.”

Dave Brooke is a member of the Pals of Harrison Hills Park team and assists coordinate the Chicken Depend and other ornithology plans. He explained when essential information and facts for the Cornell Lab is collected throughout weekend, it’s also a opportunity to introduce birding to folks who might only have a casual curiosity.

“I feel the thing that draws in folks to looking at birds following they give it a test is the simple fact that although these creatures are all about us everywhere, for the most aspect, we just wander past them with out ever noticing them,” he explained.

“But once you begin finding out there you will observe the different patterns they stick to, the variety of colours and the distinct music that are developed,” explained Brooke, 68, of Harrison. “You will occur to respect just how attractive these creatures are.”

He mentioned birds are also of good interest simply because “unlike every single other animal that is earthbound, birds can fly, which I consider helps make them interesting to us.”

Brooke encourages persons who use the park to hike and jog to consider altering their practices if they dress in earphones.

“When I’m out hiking and I see a person on the path putting on earphones to listen to audio, I simply cannot assistance but feel about what they are missing,” he stated. “Not just the stunning chicken tunes, but the appears of other creatures that are really worth enduring. There’s a ton well worth hearing and viewing out there if individuals will give it a probability.”

For the previous five years, Dave Rizzo of Sharpsburg has been assisting with a bluebird box plan work by the the park’s environmental heart to support encourage the health of the bluebird inhabitants.

“When I started, I did not know anything about bluebirds,” Rizzo claimed. “I function indoors but I like to be outside, so this was a way for me to do that.”

Rizzo reported tending to the bluebird containers scattered in the course of the park provides great insight into the intricate workings of mother nature.

“Starting around April, we’ll be out examining for nests inside of the containers,” he reported. “Before extended the eggs will start exhibiting up, and then we’ll monitor the hatchlings and then the fledglings. It is attention-grabbing to see how susceptible these hatchlings are and how the mom and dad run back and forth from the trees to the box to feed them.”

To raise the likelihood for the birds’ survival, the boxes have been outfitted with a product that tends to make it complicated for predators these types of as raccoon to get to them.

Mackenzie Schnur, 8, of Mars, who was with a group taking part in the chicken count for the initial time, explained she experienced a ton of exciting getting outdoor hunting for birds, but she was not expecting the shock she obtained Saturday.

“I actually liked viewing the eagles,” she reported. “They are rather big. It was cool to see them so shut.”

Schnur reported the eagles ended up so shut she could make out facts devoid of the need for binoculars.

Brooke explained the eagles are consistently viewed in the park, but staff and volunteers have not nevertheless been equipped to uncover the spot of the nest.

“We’ve appeared and looked but just cannot uncover it,” he claimed. “We’re not confident if the eagles are touring below from another spot of if they are nesting in a location that we just cannot see. But we’ll preserve looking.”