EagleFest Celebrates 15th Year On Saturday

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, NY — The 15th Annual Teatown Hudson River EagleFest takes place on Saturday. It'll be mostly at Croton Point Park, but of course there will be viewing sites up and down the Hudson and, for attendees getting there on Metro-North, special cars with on-board naturalists.

The grand celebration, which is the largest winter collection of wildlife lovers and bird enthusiasts in the region, is a highly anticipated event that celebrates the return of the bald eagle to the Hudson River Valley.

This year's theme is climate change.

“To help celebrate the 15th anniversary of EagleFest, we wanted to illustrate how climate change effects everyone," Teatown Executive Director Kevin Carter said. "We have designed a program that touches every part of our community, from children to seniors; elected officials to non-profit organizations. We want the thousands of people who attend EagleFest to see, learn, and act on what they learn so they can have positive effects on our environment.”

In keeping with the theme, a new feature this year is the EagleFest Passport.

The Passport invites EagleFest guests to visit six environmental and non-profit organizations' tables in the exhibit tent at Croton Point Park, where they will learn about each organization’s efforts to protect and preserve the Hudson Valley environment, complete an activity, and earn a stamp in their Passport.

Participating organizations include Riverkeeper, the Watershed Agricultural Council, Zero to Go, The Green Business Partnership, the Lower Hudson Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management, and Teatown.

Completion of the passport (all 6 stamps) qualifies the visitor to be entered into a drawing to win one of two great prizes from Zeiss Sport Optics: 1) Conquest Gavia Spotting Scope Package: 30-60x85 Scope with tripod (retails at $2,599.99) and 2) Conquest HD Binoculars 8x42(retails at $999.99).

As always there are live bird-of-prey shows, educators with viewing scopes observing wild eagles, children’s activities, food trucks, and lots of environmental organizations — all in heated tents!

In addition, EagleFest has identified 16 viewing sitesup and down both sides of the Hudson River between Yonkers and Cold Spring, and seven of them will have an on-site educator with a scope plus a warming tent.

EagleFest 2019 is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Pre-sale tickets are $22/adults (12+), $13/children (6-11) and free for children 5 and under. Tickets sold at Croton Point Park on the day of the event are $25/adults (12+), $15/children (6-11) and free for children 5 and under.

To purchase EagleFest tickets, click here.

Attendees coming from Manhattan or Poughkeepsie can take Metro-North trains to Croton-Harmon Train Station. Special EagleTrain Cars will depart from Grand Central at 8:48 a.m. and from Poughkeepsie at 8:50 a.m. During the trip, on-board naturalists will point out various Hudson Valley birds to riders. Free shuttle buses will bring attendees to/from the Croton-Harmon Train Station to Croton Point Park all day. Guests must purchase a regular train ticket from Metro North.

PHOTO/ Austin Schatz