Pennsylvania nature blooming in Buffalo Creek
Birds are returning and flowers are blooming as warmer spring temperatures and rain showers bring wildlife back to the Butler Freeport Community Trail. To one Western Pennsylvania society, the trail offers a little bit of everything.
“We’re really blessed here,” said Karen Stein, director of the Butler Center of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. “It’s a nice mix of birds, and spring is just a great time because it’s migration season.”
Stein said spotting the bright colors makes bird watching much more fun. She said woodpeckers of any sort are especially common. However, the Pileated Woodpecker is large and easy to spot.
Birds to Spot on the Butler-Freeport Trail
Louisiana water thrush
wood duck
pileated woodpecker
Carolina wren
golden-crowned kinglet
eastern phoebe
crow
turkey vulture
eagles
The final stages of migration season bring to the trail birds with bright colors attempting to find a mate and foliage that brings the color from the birds in the sky to the ground.
“There’s a lot of pretty color starting to pop,” Stein said. One of the plants, she said, is the May apple. The May apple comes up like an umbrella and sprouts a tiny apple underneath it.
Foliage to see on the Butler-Freeport Trail
spring ephemeral
Trillium
May apple
trout lily
spring beauty
No experience in birding is required to join the Audubon Society during their Birds and More Nature Hikes, held at the Butler Freeport Community Trail by Buffalo Creek. Anyone interested can register and experience the hike while learning from the experts as they go.
The trail operates from March through the end of October, still giving participants a chance to experience three of the four seasons while also letting the area slow down for the winter months.
Hikes led by the Audubon Society are year-round in some cases.
“We enjoy talking about the nature that might be happening at that time, so it’s always very seasonal as well, which is very cool,” Stein said.
