PLAINFIELD TWP., Pa. – From active bee hives to helping researchers learn about a bird of prey, an event happening Monday in Northampton County is giving people a closer look at wildlife right in our own backyard.
69 News Reporter Sydney Kay was in Plainfield Township with details on how you can take part.
American Kestrel Banding and Bee Day is taking place at the Grand Central Environmental Education Center at 891 Grand Central Road from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Adrienne Fors, Community and Municipal Relations Manager at Waste Management, said banding the American kestrel falcons on their ankles helps researchers track the birds’ behaviors and their journeys through nature.
Organizers call them little bracelets for the birds. The bands have special numbers on them.
“It is kind of like a Social Security number,” she said.
The band numbers will be documented and put into the Bird Banding Laboratory Database.
Fors said American kestrels are the smallest falcons in the U.S.
The center will also hold a bee event Monday that was originally scheduled back in May for National Bee Day but was postponed due to weather. Organizers will talk about their beekeeping project and educate some Boy and Girl Scouts about that.
Scouts will get to learn about the kestrel falcons as well as about bees. The Scouts will get the opportunity to taste store-bought honey and honey made by bees at the center and will get to decide which is better!
She said the Grand Central Environmental Education Center said it has been teaching people about the environment and working with its community partners and Scouts in the Slate Belt for almost 20 years.
The center has 200 acres dedicated to wildlife.