The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Wildlife Preserve

Eagles to Return to Hudson Valley for 14th Annual EagleFest Celebration

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Teatown to Celebrate Eagles Return to the Hudson River Renowned Bird Experts

and Singer-Songwriter Dar Williams 

The 14th Annual EagleFest is scheduled for February 10, 2018 

Discounted General Admission Tickets Are Available Now

OSSINING, NY – The grand celebration of the bald eagle will soon descend upon Croton Point Park, a Westchester County park. The 14th annual “EagleFest” has been scheduled for Saturday, February 10, 2018, a highly anticipated event that will once again take flight over the Hudson River with expanded programming, including a performance by Dar Williams, who The New Yorker calls “one of America’s very best singer-songwriters.”

Additionally, bird experts Bill Streeter and Brian Robinson will make special presentations of their own. EagleFest is hosted by Teatown, a nonprofit environmental education center and nature preserve. Also, State Senator Terrence Murphy, an outdoorsman and a lover of wildlife, will partner with Teatown to sponsor EagleFest. He has secured a $500,000 appropriation for a critical meadow restoration project at Croton Point Park, a sanctuary for bald eagles and other wildlife. This year, the event is poised to be an even bigger celebration than ever before.

“This event is a fun and celebratory way for Teatown to pursue its mission of inspiring our community to lifelong environmental stewardship,” said Kevin Carter, Executive Director of Teatown. “With so much divisiveness in the world, it is a joy to bring people together with hope and purpose.”

The annual EagleFest celebration allows visitors to see live birds of prey and provides opportunities to view the national symbol in its natural setting.  Various birds of prey species will be featured in a special program led by nationally renowned experts in the handling and care of the birds. The birds in captivity have been rehabilitated after suffering various injuries and are no longer able to live in the wild.

Environmental experts will lead other nature-related workshops and presentations to guests of all ages as well as host educational shows. Guests will also be able to enjoy cuisine from a variety of food trucks and enjoy live music inside heated tents along the river. Even more, Teatown educators will lead two-hour bus tours along the Hudson River to various eagle viewing sites where an eagle expert will be stationed with spotting scopes. This feature has limited seating.

New this year is a performance by Dar Williams. Known as much for her staunch progressive ideals as her raw acoustic energy, Williams has been captivating audiences with her folk-pop songwriting since the ’90s. Her growth as an individual over her two-decade-long career has gone hand-in-hand with her evolution as an artist, touring along the way with such distinguished peers as Joan Baez, Patty Griffin, Ani DiFranco, Loudon Wainwright III and Shawn Colvin among others. Dar’s most recent album, Emerald, “deals as bluntly as ever with the shadowy, subtle corners of humanity” according to Rolling Stone, and was recorded with friends such as Richard Thompson, Jill Sobule, Jim Lauderdale, the Milk Carton Kids, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Suzzy Roche, the Hooters and others in various studios across the U.S.

Additionally, Bill Streeter, Director of the Delaware Raptor Center (DVRC), has over 30 years of experience as a raptor rehabilitator, falconer, and educator. He has a BA in Biology and MS in Zoology, and has completed Tuft’s University Veterinary School’s Leadership Program in Wildlife Medicine and Rehabilitation. He will provide a presentation to guests with his golden eagle and bald eagle. He trains and uses live hawks, eagles, falcons, and owls for more than 120 presentations to schools, camps, scouts, and a variety of other groups each year. He is responsible for the care of the birds in residence at the center. And, Wildlife Educator Brian Robinson will also present various birds of prey. Robinson has been providing wildlife education programs to schools, libraries and museums since 1993.  His animals have been featured on many national television shows such as Regis and Kelly and The Today Show.

EagleFest 2018 will be held at Croton Point Park, 1 Croton Point Avenue in Croton-on-Hudson from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Pre-sale tickets are $17/adults (12+), $10/children (6-11) and free for children 5 and under.  Tickets sold at the venue on the day of the event are $22/adults (12+), $12/children (6-11) and free for children 5 and under. To purchase tickets, visit teatown.org/eaglefest

Attendees coming from Manhattan or Poughkeepsie can take Metro-North trains to Croton-Harmon Train Station. Special EagleTrain Cars will depart from Grand Central at 8:50 a.m. from Poughkeepsie and 9:20 a.m. from Grand Central Station. During the trip, on-board naturalists will point out various Hudson Valley birds to riders.  Free shuttle buses will bring attendees to/from the Croton-Harmon Train Station to Croton Point Park. To participate in this event, guests must purchase a regular train ticket from Metro North.

The 14th Annual Teatown EagleFest is generously sponsored by Westchester County Parks & Recreation, Westchester County Tourism, Westchester Magazine, ConEdison, WHUD, Tracer Imaging and Wheelabrator Technologies.  The event is made possible with the support of our partners, Westchester Parks Foundation and the Westchester County Parks & Recreation Department. For details visit: www.teatown.org.

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ABOUT TEATOWN: Teatown, an environmental education organization with a 1,000-acre private, not-for-profit nature preserve in Westchester County, is one of the largest and most active environmental education and science centers in the region.  Teatown impacts more than 20,000 adults and children every year through its full schedule of year-round programs and nature-focused summer camp, as well as through 15 miles of hiking trails.  Teatown’s mission is to inspire our community to lifelong environmental stewardship.  It has grown continuously since it was established on 194 acres in 1963, more than 50 years ago.  More information about Teatown is at www.teatown.org.

Hands on Opportunity at Westmoreland Sanctuary’s Floral Lecture & Workshop Series

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Five Events are Planned

As part of its 60th Anniversary celebration, Westmoreland Sanctuary is honored to announce its 2017 Floral Lecture & Workshop Series. This series is comprised of five different events for the enjoyment and hands-on involvement of the general public to better identify invasive plant species while creating and customizing floral arrangements to take home for display. Registration is now open for the first event, Early Spring Blooms, which takes place at Westmoreland Sanctuary, located at 260 Chestnut Ridge Road in Mt. Kiso, on Thursday, May 11th. Residents can register online at www.WestmorelandSanctuary.org or by calling 914.666.8448. 

  Early Spring Blooms, a two-hour lecture and workshop starting at 10:00am on May 11th, features two prominent specialists in their respective fields. Nadia Ghannam, Floral Artist with a BFA from Cornell University, will spearhead the workshop portion by demonstrating a creative seasonal mix of spring floral designs. Participants then create their very own arrangements to take home. Steve Ricker, Director of Conservation and Wildlife Management at Westmoreland Sanctuary for 25 years, is also an invasive plant specialist who will discuss ways to identify and properly dispose of invasives that may negatively impact one’s home garden or property.

Ann Paul, Director of Westmoreland Sanctuary, stated, “We’re thrilled to offer the community our annual Floral Workshop & Lecture Series that any flower enthusiast or local garden club member would enjoy and appreciate. Every year, unwelcome plant and animal species come into our area through New York City ports which threaten our native wildlife.  While part of the series will address the identification, understanding and proper eradication of these invasives, it also embraces the beauty of various seasonal flowers and allows for attendees to customize their very own arrangements to proudly display at home. This is part of our mission to finds new ways Westmoreland Sanctuary may continue to enrich, enhance and educate so the joy of being outdoors with nature can be more fully appreciated,” Ms. Paul concluded.

The remaining four Floral Lecture & Workshop  Series dates and themes are as follows: June 8th is Flower Potluck (bring your own flowers, twigs, weeds and vines from your garden and we’ll supply the rest; lecture by Tim Stanley); August 3rd is Foraged Flowers (locally foraged summer flowers arranged in Bell Jars); September 21st is Late Summer Bouquets (create late summer bouquets as seasons’ switch); December 7th is Winterscapes (designing your own holiday wreath and tablescape; lecture by Glenn Ticehurst). WAG Magazine and Halstead Quinn are proud sponsors of the entire Floral Lecture & Workshop Series.

About Westmoreland Sanctuary

Westmoreland Sanctuary is a Nature Center & Wildlife Preserve founded 60 years ago through the vision of philanthropist Helen Clay Frick, daughter of Henry Clay Frick. An initial contribution of 30 acres in 1957 has since grown to 640 acres of beautiful contiguous, preserved land today – for free public use – with some of the finest hiking trails and outdoor vistas offered anywhere in Westchester County.

As a non-profit charity organization, Westmoreland Sanctuary’s mission is to secure and preserve land for the enjoyment and enrichment of all through Environmental Education and Conservation Programs. Westmoreland celebrates 60 years of conservation, preservation and appreciation of nature throughout 2017. To learn more about our Anniversary, Environmental Educational programs along with important Conservation initiatives… or to make a Donation, please visit: www.WestmorelandSanctuary.org