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Learn about cavity-nesting birds at the Nature Center’s First Friday on Friday

Different species of birds vary in where they make their nests. Robins make nests of mud and grasses on a branch or the ledge of a building. Killdeer lay eggs in an open area amidst pebbles and grass right on the ground.

Bluebirds, purple martins, and a wide variety of other birds rely on cavities – holes in trees or nest boxes – as their nesting sites.

At the Audubon Nature Center’s First Friday Lunch Bunch on Friday at 11 a.m., Fredonia natives John and Beverly Ruska will share their expertise on a wide variety of cavity-nesting birds.

John Ruska is past president of the New York State Bluebird Society and a member of the Speakers Bureau of the North American Bluebird Society. He and his wife, Beverly, a former teacher at Fredonia Central School, have traveled across the country as well as to Mexico and Costa Rica in support of the bluebird.

For more than two decades, the Ruskas have maintained the Chautauqua County U.S. Route 20 Bluebird Trail that has seen the number of bluebirds grow exponentially since 1980. They also monitor a purple martin site for the Department of Environmental Conservation in Dunkirk.

The Beverly and John Ruska Bluebird Trail at the Greystone Nature Preserve in Fredonia is named after this couple who have done so much for a bird whose healthy status in the region was once far from certain.

Following the program, coffee and tea will be provided for a BYO brown bag lunch and conversation. The fee for attending is $8, or $6 for Friends of the Nature Center. Reservations are not required.

The Audubon Nature Center is at 1600 Riverside Road, one-quarter mile east of Route 62 between Jamestown and Warren, Pennsylvania. To learn more, call 569-2345 or visit www.jamestownaudubon.org.

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