Bird Lab

04/16/2026

Hey Native Plant People! Bird Lab and Grow Pittsburgh will be selling native plants in Dormont on Sunday April 26! These are second year plants which means they have had a headstart in growing!

The plant sale is one program in a series that celebrate Dormont's Bird Town designation!

Native plants are the foundation of a healthy habitat and essential to the health of pollinators and all our favorite backyard birds🐦🐝♥️

Learn more about how to make your yard a thriving ecosystem and grab some locally grown, second-year native plants at Dormont Bird Town's Native Plant Sale (part of the Dormont Goes Green celebration.)

Dormont Native Plant Sale
Sunday April 26th,11am - 1pm
Parking Lot behind the Dormont Municipal Building
1444 Hillsdale Ave, 15216
*parking lot entrance is around the corner on Espy Ave.

Parking for visitors: Hillsdale lot, street parking, and overflow parking at the Fire Station

In addition to a great selection of native plants courtesy of , you'll also have a chance to talk to experts from Lab, a local non-profit engaged in research, education and citizen science!

🐦Learn more about our wonderful partner organizations at birdlab.org and growpittsburgh.org🌱

01/07/2026

Hi, Friends! Want to think spring a little? Bird Lab and Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy are partnering again to do a native plant seed sowing workshop on Saturday 1/10. You'll learn about native plants, sow your own native plant seeds (which birds and pollinators love), and take them home for you to nurture and grow in your own gardens. It's a wonderful process and easy to do, even with kids.

Enhance your yard by adding native plants, which not only benefit wildlife but also nurture and strengthen your local ecosystem. Native plants are a great alternative to plants sold at places like big box stores because they are plants that are adapted to the local growing conditions. Have you ever....

12/02/2025

Double your impact with a tax-deductible donation to Bird Lab!

Help us protect the birds that share our cities and forests…

On any walk you take—whether in an urban park like Pittsburgh’s Hays Woods, a rural area like the Laurel Highlands, or simply in your own backyard—birds are doing the essential work of keeping our ecosystems alive. But their future depends on the choices we make today.

That’s where Bird Lab—and supporters like you—make all the difference.

Giving Tuesday for Bird Lab

12/01/2025

As we look ahead to Giving Tuesday, it’s the perfect time to celebrate longevity. This post is about old birds!

We love it when we re-capture birds that we’ve banded in previous years. Every previously-banded bird tells us something about their resilience in the face of so many obstacles. And this year, that resilience feels especially meaningful as Bird Lab’s migration banding program celebrates its 5-year mark.

We even have a few birds still showing up after all these years. While none have hit official longevity records yet, they are the oldest known birds in our dataset—so every re-capture matters. Each time we re-catch a bird, its story deepens. Longevity is only one indicator, but an important one. We call these returning birds our “frequent fliers,” and we hope to keep seeing them as we continue tracking their use of the habitat.

Your support helps us keep this long-term work going—from early-morning banding sessions to the data that informs conservation decisions. A gift this Giving Tuesday directly fuels the science that protects birds across Pittsburgh and beyond.

09/15/2025

Newsletter: Fall Migration Festival Sneak Peek

https://mailchi.mp/ee367f1408ba/wbr-fall-migration-festival-fundraiser-event?e=2b30923d33

Lastest Details: https://www.wildbirdrecovery.org/fall-migration-festival/

Wildbird Recovery’s 14th Annual Fall Migration Festival Fundraiser event will be held Sunday, September 21, 2025 from 12 PM to 4 PM. This event is for all ages!

Order your limited edition T-shirt by 9/12/25 from Ink Division: https://ink-division.printavo.com/merch/wildbird25

09/12/2025

Check out an article in the Pittbsurgh Post-Gazette about Bird Lab bird banding and the discoveries we are making about how birds use different types of habitat in the region!

Birds descend from the sky at dawn to take a break after their red-eye flight migrating south. Where do they get breakfast and other meals to refuel for...