An action-packed morning for Lehigh Valley Audubon Society (LVAS), leading two sets of 40-50 children at Central Elementary STREAM Academy in Allentown in a bird lesson and an outdoor birding experience.
The chaos and noise that that many seven-year-olds can generate is impressive 😀. Still, a good time was had by all. Right after the second group got to see a soaring turkey vulture, a soaring bald eagle passed over us!
A big thank you to Dan Pokras for helping lead the lessons.
We learned about native plants in the context of learning how to make cyanotype prints and trying our hand at making some. And Lehigh Valley Audubon Society (LVAS) members worked alongside Lehigh‘s Mountain Hawk Birding members at the print studio on Lehigh’s Mountaintop campus.
Thank you to Prof. Deidre Murphy and Mountain Hawk Birding past president Holly Fasching for collaborating to pull this event together, along with help from current president Gianna Ollinger.
Photos by Holly Fasching.
Volunteers may assist with the following duties:
-- Deploy the towers and gourds in spring - March 1 - April 1
-- Weekly checks on breeding in each gourd - April 1 - August 15
-- Take down towers and gourds for cleaning & storage- August 15 - September 15
Volunteer requirements:
-- Time commitments are flexible.
-- You will work as a team with 1-3 other volunteers.
-- Breeding season, April to August, is the busiest time. Our goal is to check and document each gourd in the colony weekly; date and times are flexible. Nest checks on each tower take approximately 30 minutes for each of the 4 towers at Leaser Lake (84 gourds total). Other sites may vary in size and number of gourds.
-- Towers are mechanically operated for lowering and raising. No need to climb.
-- Basic knowledge of tools is helpful; equipment is provided.
To volunteer, please contact,
for Leaser Lake Park (Lehigh County):
Laurie Lyter
Treasurer, Leaser Lake Heritage Foundation
Llyter@ptd.net
for Minsi Lake Park (Northampton County):
Jim Wilson
Northampton County Parks Department
jwilson@norcopa.gov
for Beltzville State Park (Carbon County), Nockamixon State Park and Lake Towhee Park (Bucks County):
Colin Monahan
Lehigh Valley Audubon Society Habitat Chair
colin.p.monahan@gmail.com
Dan Pokras and Nick Savant talked to parents and children at this year’s Allentown Back to School Bash.
We had almost 500 visitors at our table! They took home lots of bird-themed items for fun and learning.
Thank you to volunteers Dan, Nick, and Michele Varricchio, Deb Rosene, and Paul Sherrer for all taking a shift at our table.
We couldn’t do it without you!
Interested in helping with future LVAS events? Join us and volunteer!
Participants learned how to conduct their own count for the GBBC, practiced identifying birds, got to meet Te Kā, a Screech Owl from the Da Vinci Science Center, heard the story of how the newest edition of Birds of the Lehigh Valley and Vicinity came about, and went out for a guided bird walk at Nisky Hill Cemetery.
Yummy bird-themed refreshments were available, along with take-home handouts on bird ID and bird conservation.
Please enjoy this video made by LVAS volunteer Kelly Patla!
Saturday, January 10, 2026 dawned with a threat of rain. Luckily, the rain held off until just after Lehigh Valley Audubon Society’s 12th annual CBC4Kids was over!
Eleven children from ages 4 to 10 spent time in our classroom at Muhlenberg College learning the purpose of bird counts, how to identify birds, and how to use binoculars. Then everyone piled into cars for a short drive to three local parks, and the three teams got to work spotting and recording birds.
One of 3 bird counting teams of children who participated in Lehigh Valley Audubon Society’s 12th annual CBC4Kids on January 10, 2026
Altogether, the Crazy Crows, the Nutty Nuthatches, and the Mysterious Marshmallow Mallards counted 411 birds of 22 different species. Highlights included a Merlin, five species of duck, several Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a Mute Swan strolling down the middle of the road.
The morning concluded with snacks, a tally of the birds recorded, and a visit to the ornithology museum of Muhlenberg College. Kids left with a National Geographic bird book for children and other fun and educational materials. We hope they also left with the start of a lifetime habit of appreciating and conserving birds.
This year, LVAS volunteer Kelly Patla accompanied Team Nutty Nuthatches in the field and provided a video for us to enjoy. Watch the video here!
Event organizers: Barbara Malt and Chad Schwartz.
We thank everyone who contributed as helpers in the classroom and in the field: Peter Saenger, Dan Pokras, Mark Boyd, Jon Levin, and Kelly and Nathan Patla.
And thanks to all of our LVAS members who support this program and others with your membership dollars and donations!
Article written by Barbara Malt and published January 2026 in THE OSPREY VOLUME 50 • NUMBER 1.
THE OSPREY is the Quarterly Newsletter of The Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, provided first only to LVAS members.
Get all the latest news and event notifications by joining our Chapter of the The National Audubon Society.
