Peak season in January

Bird fanciers throng to EagleFest

NARROWSBURG, NY — January is supposed to be the doldrums of the tourist season, but you wouldn’t know it this weekend, between the Ice Carnival in Livingston Manor (see page 15) and EagleFest, an annual celebration of America’s national bird and the Upper Delaware region that provides eagles with winter habitat and nurtures the ecosystem to which they belong.

The opening dedications for EagleFest start at 9:30 a.m. in the auditorium of the Narrowsburg school building, followed up by entertainment, refreshments and instruction that spread out all over town. For a full schedule see below.

For EagleFest aficionados, the old favorites will be back, including live birds of prey demonstrations by Lauren Butcher of The Raptor Trust (Millington NJ), Bill Streeter, of the Delaware Valley Raptor Center (Milford, PA) and, Kathy Uhler of the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (Stroudsburg, PA) and the popular silent poster auction, housed at River Gallery - The Art of Living on Main Street, where the final bids and pickups will be at 4:30 p.m.

There will also be new attractions this year to pique visitors’ fancies. Ron Rohrbaugh, Assistant Director of Conservation Science at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY will be discussing “A Lost Species: The history, ecology, and status of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.” And Jason A. Porter, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, PA will be exhibiting and presenting the “ecological footprint”, a quantitative measure of the impact an individual’s lifestyle has on the resources available, and demonstrating how individuals can calculate their footprints and understand why sustainable living is an important goal for all of us to strive to achieve.

There are presentations geared to all ages and a variety of interests; peruse the schedules below and see what tickles your fancy.

The event will be held rain or snow.