Bird is the word at Powdermill Nature Reserve in Rector, Pennsylvania. Those who are curious about our feathered friends will enjoy a memorable experience at Powdermill, one of the nation’s longest-running bird-banding stations, in operation for 47 years.
The program focuses on the great diversity of small migratory songbirds that are caught in mist nets, banded with numbered aluminum bands and released. More than 550,000 birds of 190 species have been banded to date.
Migratory birds such as Baltimore orioles, hawks and hummingbirds stop and feed at the lush 2,200-acre reserve. Golden eagles miss the mist nets, but stop while traveling south from Canada. This predator perches alongside bald eagles on the ridges at the reserve.
Powdermill’s residents include cardinals, owls and white-breasted nuthatches. Scarlet tanagers and golden-winged warblers, which breed in the Allegheny region, are local favorites.
Visitors can hike or stroll along a pair of trails: one is a mile long and the other extends three quarters of a mile. There are also plenty of streams in the scenic tree-lined reserve, which is the biological research station of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Stop by the Nature Center Headquarters for information about birds and events at the Reserve. There’s plenty to learn indoors, but the bird-watching action is nonstop outside.