Migration Celebration 2025
Saturday, September 13
10AM–3PM
Join us for a full day of free walks, workshops, presentations, live birds of prey, and fun exhibits.
Join the Cayuga Bird Club under the covered entrance at 8:30AM for a special Bird Walk before the celebration kicks off at 10:00AM.
Our annual celebration returns! Experience the interactive and accessible exhibits of the Visitor Center and participate in a range of community activities scheduled throughout the day.
We hope you’ll join us for this free and family-friendly event.
- Learn about the threat of glass collision to birds and explore ways that you can make your own windows safer with DIY glass-treatments.
- Examine bird-migration radar images and browse recent observations and forecasts with BirdCast staff.
- Discover all the exciting learning opportunities waiting for you at Bird Academy with videos, ID guides, and the brand new BirdWise quizzing platform.
- Use microphones to explore the world of bird identification with the makers of Merlin Bird ID.
- Explore how the field of bioacoustics is inspired by the sounds of different ecosystems, and how recordings are made and interpreted with the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics.
- Find out how Lab members support our cause and help birds around the world.
- Pick from your favorite bird-inspired designs and have your face painted by the Lab’s resident scientific illustrators.
- Reflect, connect, and share with the Cornell Migrations Program as they explore migration through art, storytelling and film
- Explore optics with Wild Birds Unlimited; featuring Zeiss, Swarovski, and Nikon.
- Participate in activities led by the Cornell Lab K-12 team, including Guess That Silhouette and What’s that Bird?.
- Meet members of the Cayuga Bird Club and learn about their work encouraging and facilitating bird conservation activities locally for more than a century.
Schedule of Events
Presentations & Performances | Workshops | Walks and Tours
Presentations & Performances
For each event, note the color coded location and meet at the matching color on the location map.
10:00–2:00PM
Cornell Raptor Program
Stop in anytime from 10AM-2PM and behold the beauty of eagles, falcons, and owls with live birds of prey from the Cornell Raptor Program.
10:00–11:00AM
Bird Banding
Come get a glimpse of a wild bird in the hand, and learn how and why scientists capture and collect data from wild birds. Bird banding has been used to study wild birds since the late 1800s. Data from banding birds has allowed scientists to understand many aspects of birds’ natural history including species ranges, migratory routes, lifespans, and how those may be changing over time. This demonstration will allow visitors to see the process and learn about the importance of bird banding.
Birds will be harmlessly trapped using mist nets and will each be fitted with a small, uniquely numbered metal leg band and measured to evaluate its overall condition. If a banded bird is recaptured or found later, scientists and members of the public can use the numbered band to determine when and where it was first banded.
10:15–11:15AM
Stories from the People of the Longhouse with Perry Ground
Stories are an essential part of any culture and a wonderful way to learn about others. Join us as we welcome Perry Ground, a Turtle Clan member of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and Cornell alumnus. Perry has been a storyteller and educator for over 25 years and uses vivid descriptions, his rhythmic voice, audience interaction, and an active stage presence to bring stories to life. Perry will recount traditional Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) legends, featuring some favorite birds, that have been told for hundreds of years and showcase the beliefs, customs, and history of the Haudenosaunee people.
11:00–12:00 noon
Bird Banding
Come get a glimpse of a wild bird in the hand, and learn how and why scientists capture and collect data from wild birds. Bird banding has been used to study wild birds since the late 1800s. Data from banding birds has allowed scientists to understand many aspects of birds’ natural history including species ranges, migratory routes, lifespans, and how those may be changing over time. This demonstration will allow visitors to see the process and learn about the importance of bird banding.
Birds will be harmlessly trapped using mist nets and will each be fitted with a small, uniquely numbered metal leg band and measured to evaluate its overall condition. If a banded bird is recaptured or found later, scientists and members of the public can use the numbered band to determine when and where it was first banded.
11:00–12:00 noon
Conservation Media Film Screening with Q&A
Join Conservation Media team members as they discuss the goals and strategies for creating impactful conservation media. A new Conservation Media film will be screened followed by a Q&A.
11:30–12:15PM
A Once in a Lifetime Work: The Wall of Birds Turns Ten
With 2025 marking the 10-year anniversary of the Wall of Birds, Jane Kim reflects on how the project has shaped her career and continues to offer stories and lessons that reveal the world around us.
12:30–1:30PM
Conservation Media Film Screening with Q&A
Join Conservation Media team members as they discuss the goals and strategies for creating impactful conservation media. A new Conservation Media film will be screened followed by a Q&A.
1:00–1:45PM
Fluff Your Feathers. We Gotta Go!: An Interactive Performance with Holly Adams and Karen Stanley
In this interactive, engaging, and immersive performance, we follow a bird and a butterfly on their first migration south for the winter. Fun, informative, and family oriented! After the show, performers Holly Adams and Karen Stanley will guide the audience members in making a three-dimensional mask inspired by the performance to take home.
2:00–3:00PM
Conservation Media Film Screening with Q&A
Join Conservation Media team members as they discuss the goals and strategies for creating impactful conservation media. A new Conservation Media film will be screened followed by a Q&A.
Workshops
For each event, note the color-coded location and meet at the matching color on the location map.
12:30–1:30PM
Sapsucker Woods with a Pencil and Paper with Jane Kim
Location: Covered Entrance to the Visitor Center
Join Jane Kim for nature sketching around Sapsucker Woods. No prior sketching experience is necessary. If you can write your name, you have what it takes to sketch!
2:00–3:00PM
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Group Mural with Jane Kim
Never painted a mural before? That is no problem with paint by number. Help bring a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker to life following a paint by number matrix created by Jane Kim.
Walks and Tours
For each event, note the color-coded location and meet at the matching color on the location map.
8:30–10:00AM
CBC Bird Walk
Location: Covered Entrance to the Visitor Center
Get an early start to the celebration with a walk led by members of the Cayuga Bird Club. Walk the trails at Sapsucker Woods looking and listening for birds. Binoculars available to borrow.
10:30–11:30AM
Walk in the Woods with Kevin McGowan
Location: Covered Entrance to the Visitor Center
Walk in the woods with professional ornithologist Kevin McGowan and get to know the avian residents of Sapsucker Woods.
11:00–11:40AM
Behind the Scenes: Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates
Location: Covered Entrance to the Visitor Center
Birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and mammals! Take an intimate look at feathers, fins, scales, and bones. Experience how research museums operate, and understand the expanding role they serve in a changing world.
12:00PM–1:00PM
Bird Walk
Location: Covered Entrance to the Visitor Center
Walk the trails at Sapsuckers Woods looking and listening for birds. Binoculars available to borrow.
12:00PM– 1:15PM
Native Plants and Home Habitat Ideas with Becca Rodomsky-Bish
Location: Covered Entrance to the Visitor Center
Limited to 20 attendees. Arrive early.
There are many actions we can take at home to support birds and biodiversity. Focusing on features at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Sapsucker Woods, we’ll walk around the property and discuss the importance of native habitat. You’ll head home with ideas for plant species or habitat features to consider adding to better support birds.
1:00–1:40PM
Behind the Scenes: Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates
Location: Covered Entrance to the Visitor Center
Limited to 15 attendees. Arrive early.
Birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and mammals! Take an intimate look at feathers, fins, scales, and bones. Experience how research museums operate, and understand the expanding role they serve in a changing world.
1:30–2:30PM
Bird Walk
Location: Covered Entrance to the Visitor Center
Walk the trails at Sapsuckers Woods looking and listening for birds. Binoculars available to borrow.
2:00–2:40PM
Behind the Scenes: Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates
Location: Covered Entrance to the Visitor Center
Limited to 15 attendees. Arrive early.
Birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and mammals! Take an intimate look at feathers, fins, scales, and bones. Experience how research museums operate, and understand the expanding role they serve in a changing world.
Map of Locations
Events will meet at the location that matches the color of the event listing.
FAQ
How do I get here?
Our location is:
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Rd
Ithaca, NY 14850
Find us on a map
TCAT Route 77 provides flag-zone weekend service to the Lab. For more information, please see TCAT schedule.
A free campus shuttle will be running throughout the day. View schedule here.
Where do I park?
There are two parking lots close to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that are available for free day parking. Additional parking is available across Sapsucker Woods Road in lots between the Visitor Center and Route 13.
Is there an entry fee?
There is no entry fee. The Cornell Lab Visitor Center and Sapsucker Woods are free and open to the public. All Migration Celebration programming is free of charge.
What are your accessible features?
There are seven accessible parking spaces in the Visitor Center lot. The building is fully wheelchair accessible and there are two manual wheelchairs for visitors to borrow on a first-come, first-served basis. The trails at Sapsucker Woods are mostly flat and mulched with short sections of wooden boardwalk, and some exposed roots. More on accessibility at the Cornell Lab Visitor Center.
Will there be food?
We are not selling food on site but you are welcome to bring your own. There are numerous benches and other picnic spots along the trails in Sapsucker Woods.
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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker by Sasha Cahill / Macaulay Library