COUNTYButler County Parks and Recreation Department free Thursday night programs this summer at Alameda Park include “AL-Mazing Magic” tonight and ATA Master Connell’s Self Defense on July 14, both at 6:30 p.m. in the Carousel Shelter. Call 724-284-5383.Succop Nature Park, 185 W. Airport Road, Penn Township, hosts free birding and nature hikes with a naturalist at 9 a.m. Thursdays. Trails are open from dawn to dusk. Call 412-963-6100 or visit www.aswp.org.Moraine State Park, Muddy Creek Township, will host a “Heron and Kingfisher Paddle” from 10:30 a.m. to noon Friday (reservations required); a “Wyggeston Trail History Hike” from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday; a bat box workshop from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday (registration required; a fee is involved); Muddy Creek Oil Field living history event from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and “Camping and Backpacking Basics” at 1 p.m. Sunday. Call 724-368-8811.

REGIONStar parties sponsored by the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh are to begin weather permittingat 8:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Nicholas E. Wagman Observatory in Deer Lakes Regional Park near Russellton. Call 724-224-2510.McConnells Mill State Park in Slippery Rock Township, Lawrence County, will host “Native Plants of the Summer” at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The mill is open 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays. Tours are given at 1 and 2 p.m. daily. Call 724-368-8811.Crooked Creek Environmental Learning Center invites anyone who wants to watch fireflies to its location near Ford City at 8 p.m. July 16. The program is free.