Watching in the wings
SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — The Birdwatchers Store is not only a great place for birdwatchers to shop, its backyard is a great place for birds.
The shop had plenty of both on Saturday, Jan. 31, when the Butler Birder’s Club hosted its first public event, a bird feeder watch party — a chance for people to get to know the members of the club and to learn about the birds that stopped in the shop’s backyard.
Jen Balsiger, founder of the Butler Birder’s Club, said there are plans to have more of these feeder watch parties, because as the seasons change, so too will the types of birds that cross through Butler County.
The group was created as a way “to provide an inclusive community where birders of all backgrounds and abilities can enjoy birding together,” Balsiger said, and events will play a role in building that community.
“It is our hope to make a welcoming environment for anyone who wants to spend time in nature, meet new people and enjoy birds,” Balsiger said.
While this was the first event the Butler Birder’s Club hosted — and it was pushed back a week from the date it was originally scheduled — plenty of people roamed into the Birdwatchers Store from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to see what they could watch. According to Hope Roberts, whose daughter, Jody Roberts, owns the Birdwatchers Store, the shop is already one where birdwatchers stay past making their purchase to watch the feeders in the backyard.
Roberts explained that the shop attracts so many birds and bird types because it has a variety of feeders and a variety of food that each are favored by different birds. Among the aviary animals that crossed through the yard were blue jays, cardinals, house sparrows, gold finches and woodpeckers and many more. Roberts said the shop intentionally sets up certain feeders with certain foods to attract a variety of birds.
“Cardinals want a flat place to eat, they want something wider to perch on,” Roberts said as an example of a unique bird attraction. “Blue jays love peanuts, so put peanuts out and they’ll probably come by.”
The bird variety is what helped attract watchers to the shop Saturday.
Jason Short, of East Palestine, Ohio, said he traveled to Pennsylvania in the cold just to see what kinds of birds the area was getting compared to his hometown, which is about 40 miles from Slippery Rock. Short is also president of the Audubon Society Mahoning Valley, and explained that he enjoys going to other states where different birds will be depending on the season.
“That’s why people travel, is to see a lot of bird variety,” Short said. “I’ll be going to New Jersey where there’s different variety, because they have those beaches and sands that we don’t have here.”
Kathleen Wallace also traveled from Ohio Saturday to attend the feeder watch party, with her home being in Vienna, Ohio. She said birdwatching is usually done better in a group, when people with different expertise can chime in with bird information when they spot an interesting specimen. She said she knows a lot of people, including Short, through a shared love of birdwatching.
“We never would have known each other without these birdwatching events,” Wallace said.
