It’s time again for the annual Shaver’s Creek Birding Cup!
Beginning birders, try your luck to win the Potter Mug. Think you’re the best birder in your county? Try for the County Cup. Willing to brave the search for birds on foot, bike, or boat—and forego any form of motorized transportation? You stand to achieve the Birding Boot. And for the team of birders who can find the most species of bird in one or any combination of the seven counties that are part of the competition, you deserve the biggest trophy of them all, the Birding Cup! Why the trophies and the hoopla? The tournament is a contest amongst teams of birders to identify the most bird species in a twenty-four-hour period in the central Pennsylvania region (Huntingdon, Centre, and adjoining counties). Teams must compete based on a set of Birding Cup Rules while engaged in peerless pursuits and superlative scavenging. And in addition to being an exciting search for spring migrants, the Birding Cup—which this year runs from Friday, May 4 at 7:00 p.m. through Saturday, May 5 at 7:00 p.m.—is Shaver’s Creek’s annual fundraiser! Teams raise pledges per bird species seen that go to support Shaver’s Creek. There is still time to join a team, form your own, or support one of the 15+ teams that will be in the field for the Cup! For more information on forming a team or donating to the Birding Cup, visit: http://bit.ly/2012BirdingCup Every $50 raised by a team earns that team a raffle ticket for a drawing to win a pair of Nikon Prostaff 7 (8×42) binoculars donated by Nikon. Once you get a pair, you won’t know how you birded without them: http://bit.ly/NikonProstaff7 On that same Saturday, May 5th, from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., Shaver’s Creek is excited to once again partner with the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society and the Penn State Master Gardeners to host our second annual Native Plant Festival. Come celebrate the arrival of spring, the return of wildflowers, and the beginning of another gardening season at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center! Enjoy a hike, bring a picnic lunch, and join us for educational walks and programs on native plant gardening. In addition to expert speakers, there will be native plants and local food for sale and educational resource tables where you can have native plant and gardening questions answered. Admission to the festival is free, but please come prepared to support our vendors through purchases of plants and/or food! Visit http://bit.ly/2012NativePlantFestival for more info.We feel the Birding Cup and Native Plant Festival are a natural partners, highlighting the importance of native plants to our native wildlife. This year, funds raised from these two events will focus on efforts to incorporate native plants and a larger, safer water feature in front of the nature center. Thanks to the following sponsors for making these two events a success: Wiscoy for Animals
Dix Honda
Benjamin’s Catering
Lost Creek Optics
Nikon
Collegiate Pride
Pennsylvania Native Plant Society
Penn State Extension Master Gardeners Engage your inner birder or join us for a day of seeing, eating, and talking about native plants—either way, we’d love to have you at Shaver’s Creek!