Scarlet Tanager
Photo by Dave Brooke
Black Throated Green Warble
Photo by Dave Brooke
Louisiana Waterthrush
Photo by Dave Brooke

Important Bird Area

Buffalo Creek is an Important Bird Area, a region vital to birds and biodiversity. Harrison Hills Park is a stopover habitat during migration into the Buffalo Creek Valley–a region where the breeding bird populations have been recognized as ‘exemplary’ since the 1880s.

According to eBird, the Buffalo Creek Watershed is home to 156 bird species. 42 of those have been identified in the Pennsylvania Wildlife Action Plan (2015 – 2025) as ‘Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN)’, including:

  • Forest interior species such as Hooded Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Wood Thrush, and Scarlet Tanager that rely on large tracts of mature forest to maintain healthy populations.
  • Louisiana Waterthrush that prefer healthy, cool forested streams.
  • Cerulean Warbler, that rely on forested hillsides.

Data from the area’s 2018 Breeding Bird Survey identified 63 breeding species, including 9 SGCN.

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