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The Nature Inn At Bald Eagle Offers Special Weekend Packages
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Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Richard Allan Wednesday announced a schedule for spring events at the Nature Inn at Bald Eagle, located in Bald Eagle State Park in Centre County.
This weekend, March 2–4, the Gold Eagle Voyage Weekend package invites visitors to enjoy the comforts of the Nature Inn and view the golden eagle northern migration from atop nearby Tussey Mountain.
“The Nature Inn at Bald Eagle provides a cozy place to rest, while offering visitors a sampling of what the great outdoors has to offer in the early spring months,” Allan said. “Visitors for the upcoming weekend package can enjoy the comforts of the inn with good food; an outing to nearby Tussey Mountain to watch for eagles, hawks and raptors; an educational evening program on migration; and a morning sunrise woodcock trot.”
Friday night begins with a group dinner followed by a nighttime stroll and owl prowl. On Saturday, in addition to viewing raptors at Tussey Mountain, events include a hot lunch and presentation at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Learning Center; a group dinner and a program with a more detailed look at eagle and hawk migration in Pennsylvania.
On Sunday, there’s a woodcock trot before breakfast, and a bird walk before departure. Participants will receive a locally-crafted backyard bird feeder.
The package includes two nights of accommodations, double occupancy, starting at $419.
Opened in fall 2010, the Nature Inn offers visitors comfortable amenities such as an inviting bed and complimentary breakfast. Its green features, including supplemental solar thermal panels, rain collection cisterns and native plantings, are meant to inspire guests and promote conservation.
The inn overlooks a more than 1,700-acre lake at Bald Eagle State Park.
Private innkeeper Charlie Brooks and park staff also are offering a unique spring guest speaker series in the multi-purpose room at the Nature Inn that is free to the public but requires preregistration.
Upcoming programs are:
-- March 10, 6 – 7 p.m. – Critters Beyond Your Backdoor with Jack Hubley who will be accompanied by a variety of animals;
-- March 17, 7 – 8 p.m. – Owls of the Eastern U.S. and Canada with local owl bander Wayne Laubscher;
-- April 13, 7 – 8 p.m. – Butterfly Guy Rick Mikula with slides from his visits to the rainforest and tips about what you can find outside your backdoor; and
-- May 19, 1- 3 p.m. – Wild Mushrooms with Bill Russell, who has been offering walks and talks on this topic for more than 50 years.
Each of the inn’s 16 rooms is named for a different bird and features coordinating prints by artists John James Audubon and Ned Smith.
Every spring, songbirds including warblers, flycatchers and swallows display courtship rituals and sing enchanting melodies while searching for nesting spots in the park. Boaters and beach-goers commonly see bald eagles, herons, gulls, geese and osprey around the lake. In the fall, visitors can find migrating mergansers, cormorants and buffleheads on the lake.
“One of the unique experiences at the inn and the park is that we continue to have nesting adult bald eagles that can be observed,” Brooks said. “The pair is presently tending to an unknown number of eggs in a newly constructed nest directly across the lake from the inn. We keep a high-powered spotting scope trained on the nest and will be looking for eaglets by mid-March."
Rooms include a microwave, refrigerator, cable TV, DVD player and Internet access. Reservations for the inn can be made through the existing State Park reservation system.
Bald Eagle State Park is located in Centre County, not far from Interstate 80 and is a gateway to the Pennsylvania Wilds region. The inn is approximately a 3-hour drive from Pittsburgh; slightly longer from Philadelphia.
For more information, visit the Nature Inn website or call 814-625-2879.
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3/5/2012 |
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