Latodami Nature Center

06/03/2026

Welcome to the Latodami Seasonal Rangers! 🥾
The Latodami Nature Center team is so excited to welcome 3 Latodami Seasonal Rangers for the summer of 2026! These hard workers will assist us with educational programming, trail improvements, habitat restoration, citizen science project, social media posts, and so much more! Here’s a little bit on the crew that is joining us through August:

Charlotte Wolf is joining us for her 4th summer at Latodami Nature Center! She goes to Ohio University for a degree in Environmental Science & Sustainability. Charlotte enjoys hiking, searching for salamanders, and foraging!

Jack Fereday is joining us for his 2nd summer at Latodami Nature Center! He attends Penn State where he is pursuing a degree in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Management. In his free time, Jack enjoys kayaking, skiing, hiking, and catching reptiles and amphibians.

Riley Pegher is joining the Latodami Nature Center team for their first time! They graduated this spring from Allegheny College with majors in Psychology and Environmental Science and a minor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Riley has a particular interest in environmental justice and radical sustainability, with a special passion for stream ecology! Fun fact: they studied Japanese for five years and hope to visit Japan one day!

06/01/2026

The next Latodami Hike: Tuesday Evenings is Tuesday, June 2nd, from 6-8 pm and will be exploring North Park's Purple Trail🌲

This hike is about 2 miles rated as moderate-difficult. Hiking poles can be helpful for muddy conditions and hills.

Hikes always meet at the basketball court parking lot on Ku**er Road at 6:00 pm then caravan to the location. No registration necessary, just show up!

Children attending must have an adult present. Dress well for outdoor weather. Call for more information 724-935-2170.

See you there!

05/30/2026

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for the 5th Annual Spring Bird Survey of North Park on May 16th! 🐦 Volunteers like you are the backbone of Citizen Science projects like these, so without your generous contribution of time and energy, we would not have such an amazing count year after year. Whether you were leading a group, making the list, spotting birds, or just along for the ride, every little bit helped.

This year we had 26 people out counting birds—2 rangers and 24 volunteers. Together with a few extra folks contributing to eBird on their own (unknowing volunteers) who found some extra species for us, we counted 1,709 individual birds from 91 species (plus one “spuh,” an unknown species of flycatcher)! This brings the running species total for the Spring Bird Surveys up to 123.

If you enjoyed counting with us, please come back for another birding event! We hold bi-monthly Hike: Birding, participate in the Christmas Bird Count, and lead educational programs about birds and birding. I look forward to seeing you there!

List of species spotted on the 2026 Spring Bird Survey in North Park:
Canada Goose - 665
Mute Swan - 1
Wood Duck - 28
Mallard - 125
Common Merganser - 1
Wild Turkey - 14
Rock Pigeon - 1
Mourning Dove - 132
Chimney Swift - 143
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 8
Sora - 1
Killdeer - 48
American Woodcock - 2
Spotted Sandpiper - 18
Solitary Sandpiper - 14
Least Sandpiper - 9
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 5
Ring-billed Gull - 2
Herring Gull - 13
Double-crested Cormorant - 18
Green Heron - 14
Great Blue Heron - 75
Turkey Vulture - 21
Osprey - 8
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Bald Eagle - 5
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 30
buteo sp. - 1
Eastern Screech-Owl - 1
Great Horned Owl - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 19
Red-headed Woodpecker - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 117
Downy Woodpecker - 27
Hairy Woodpecker - 20
Pileated Woodpecker - 21
Northern Flicker - 84
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 33
Acadian Flycatcher - 4
Willow Flycatcher - 2
Least Flycatcher - 3
Eastern Phoebe - 47
Great Crested Flycatcher - 24
Eastern Kingbird - 50
new world flycatcher sp. - 3
Yellow-throated Vireo - 3
Eastern Warbling Vireo - 60
Red-eyed Vireo - 125
Blue Jay - 253
American Crow - 158
Fish Crow - 1
crow sp. - 2
Common Raven - 2
Carolina/Black-capped Chickadee Sp./Hybrid - 85
Tufted Titmouse - 122
Bank Swallow - 7
Tree Swallow - 293
Purple Martin - 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 65
Barn Swallow - 328
Cliff Swallow - 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 30
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 14
Northern House Wren - 72
Winter Wren - 1
Carolina Wren - 58
European Starling - 173
Gray Catbird - 192
Brown Thrasher - 3
Northern Mockingbird - 64
Eastern Bluebird - 138
Veery - 12
Gray-cheeked Thrush - 1
Swainson's Thrush - 3
Wood Thrush - 38
American Robin - 690
Cedar Waxwing - 186
House Sparrow - 119
House Finch - 49
Purple Finch - 6
American Goldfinch - 195
Chipping Sparrow - 93
Field Sparrow - 19
White-crowned Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 2
Song Sparrow - 311
Swamp Sparrow - 3
Eastern Towhee - 111
Yellow-breasted Chat - 1
Orchard Oriole - 49
Baltimore Oriole - 176
Red-winged Blackbird - 470
Brown-headed Cowbird - 51
Common Grackle - 147
Ovenbird - 1
Worm-eating Warbler - 1
Louisiana Waterthrush - 1
Northern Waterthrush - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 40
Mourning Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 29
Hooded Warbler - 35
American Redstart - 17
Cape May Warbler - 1
Northern Parula - 5
Magnolia Warbler - 10
Bay-breasted Warbler - 8
Blackburnian Warbler - 4
Northern Yellow Warbler - 178
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 7
Blackpoll Warbler - 1
Pine Warbler - 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 10
Yellow-throated Warbler - 2
Black-throated Green Warbler - 2
Canada Warbler - 2
Wilson's Warbler - 5
Summer Tanager - 1
Scarlet Tanager - 40
Northern Cardinal - 225
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 35
Indigo Bunting - 39
TOTAL BIRDS: 7562
TOTAL SPECIES: 123

05/22/2026

"How Allegheny County produced the 3rd highest number of Eastern bluebirds in the state" 🐦

Did you catch this incredible article about the North Park Bluebird Project, coordinated by Ken Knapp - 2021 Bluebird of the Year, PA Master Naturalist, and former Latodami Nature Center employee?

https://www.post-gazette.com/life/outdoors/2026/05/13/allegheny-county-north-park-eastern-bluebirds/stories/202605120044

Ken is the reason for the rebound of bluebirds in Allegheny County, and we are SO THANKFUL and PROUD of the work he has accomplished!

Read the article, and give Ken some love in the comments below 👇💙🐦

Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Post Gazette and Steve Gosser.

https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Parks-and-Events/Parks/North-Park/Latodami-Nature-Center/North-Park-Bluebird-Program

05/16/2026

The next Latodami Hike: Tuesday Evenings Tuesday, May 19th, from 6-8 pm and will be exploring Latodami Nature Center's Purple and Blue Trails. 🌲

This hike is about 2 miles rated as moderate. Hiking poles can be helpful for muddy conditions and hills.

Hikes always meet at the basketball court parking lot on Ku**er Road at 6:00 pm. No registration necessary, just show up!

Children attending must have an adult present. Dress well for outdoor weather. Call for more information 724-935-2170.
See you there!

05/15/2026

BNY has joined us once again to remove an AMAZING amount of invasive plants from Latodami Nature Center's Apple Orchard! 🍎💪

Continuing the hard work they started last year, BNY volunteers assisted us with uncovering lost apple trees hidden beneath invasive plants like buckthorn, privet, multiflora rose, and barberry. Slowly but surely, the helped us reveal some beautiful yet long forgotten parts of Latodami's land. Thank you SO MUCH to BNY for dedicating this day to volunteering with us! 👏

05/11/2026

Join us for a spring hike this Saturday, May 16th! 🌸
Register here: https://anc.apm.activecommunities.com/alleghenyparks/activity/search/detail/22177?onlineSiteId=0&from_original_cui=true

05/08/2026

We ❤️ Our Volunteers!

Volunteers make Latodami Nature Center look better - both to people and critters! Recently, volunteers have assisted us in removing invasive plants like garlic mustard and barberry, planting hundreds of trees, improving trails, and so much more!

Take advantage of this beautiful time of year to give back to your parks and volunteer with us! Here are our upcoming opportunities:

Latodami Volunteer: Habitat Restoration
Volunteer: Litter Cleanup

Register here: https://anc.apm.activecommunities.com/alleghenyparks/activity/search?onlineSiteId=0&activity_select_param=2&activity_keyword=latodami%20volunteer&viewMode=list

05/06/2026