Birding Cup 2025

Few activities are quite as fortifying as a walk in nature. Time and again, the scientific community speaks to the health benefits of simple movements through natural spaces: reduced anxiety, increased focus, stronger hearts, the list goes on. Deep down, we all know this to be true. It’s coded into our cells and expressed in the longing we feel to lace up our shoes and get lost.

Beyond the gift of health, we experience benefits that fortify our communities. How can you study the food webs of a creek, pick fruit from an elderberry bush, or watch a songbird forage without developing a sense of connection and reciprocity with the world around you? As staff members at Shaver’s Creek, we’re lucky that taking a walk in nature is as simple as teaching our students, hosting a program, or tending the grounds. It is not lost on us that we have the great privilege of walking in nature every day, which is why we work so hard to share that privilege with as many people as we can.

One of the ways we celebrate that privilege is with our annual Birding Cup fundraiser. For this year’s Cup, we are directing our fundraising efforts toward enhancing habitats at the Musser Gap Greenway. In 2024, we began the process of converting 25 acres of the Greenway into grassland habitat. Grasslands, which are the most altered and endangered biome in the world, were historically a part of Pennsylvania’s landscape. They supported now threatened and declining species like the short-eared owl, wood turtle, northern harrier, monarch butterfly, and American kestrel. With your support, we can bring some grassland back to central Pennsylvania, and in turn support the threatened and declining species that rely on them.

The essence of our mission at Shaver’s Creek is to connect people to people and people to the natural world. If we are successful, then our students, visitors, neighbors, members, volunteers, campers, and partners will practice reciprocity in your own communities. When we support healthy habitats, we practice reciprocity by giving back to the natural communities that give so much to us. You can support our grassland project the Musser Gap Greenway by contributing to any of the Birding Cup teams that will be racing the clock on May 2^nd and 3^rd, or by giving directly to the Shaver’s Creek general fund.

Thank you for your support.

If you prefer to mail in a donation please address it to:

Attn: Siara Glenny, Shaver's Creek Environmental Center, 3400 Discovery Rd. Petersburg, PA 16669