DREHERSVILLE - Vivian Conner, 9, of Orwigsburg, loves birds, raptors in particular, and showed up for a special egg hunt at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary on Saturday with a finger puppet of an eagle on her finger.
"I don't know why. It just became somewhat of an obsession," Conner said of her love for birds.
She was one of 50 children from the region who scoured the forest floor, searching for realistic-looking wooden replicas of raptor eggs in the area of the sanctuary's amphitheater. She said this was the third year she participated in this event, and she's become somewhat of an expert.
When her friends, Chloe Houk, 10, and Madison Connors, 9, both of Orwigsburg, spotted and snatched up wooden eggs, Conner was quick to identify what they were replicas of.
"I got a kestrel and two peregrines," Conner said.
Looking at the ones Connors found, Conner said, "You got two falcons and a kestrel, as well."
Looking at Houk's finds, Conner said, "You got three falcons."
"She's the bird genius," Houk said of her friend.
In late spring, red-tailed hawks, the most frequently observed hawks in the region, start to lay eggs. To celebrate the occasion and Easter, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary invited children to its annual "raptor egg hunt," according to Rachel Taras, Northampton County, as a full-time education specialist at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.
It's been a tradition at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary since 2007, Taras said.
"The program is filled at 50 children, ages 3 to 12, with a waiting list. It will take place at the outdoor amphitheater located just beyond the Visitor's Center. The eggs are of different shapes and are camouflaged. Children are allowed to find one of each size. They are separated into age groups as well," Erin Brown, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary's director of education, said Thursday.
Prizes included a Hawk Mountain Sanctuary bookmark, a pencil and an activity book about birds of prey that also includes stickers.
"Prior to the actual egg hunt, there will be a short program about raptors and their nests, eggs and some additional natural history information," Brown said.
Taras hosted the event Saturday.
Volunteers, including Karin Wulkowicz, Shillington, Berks County, were there at 9 a.m., hiding the wooden eggs in forest, which was blanketed with crunchy dead leaves.
Light tan with dashes of brown, the eggs looked realistic. And more than 75 eggs were scattered in the area.
"They're painted to look like actual raptor eggs. And you can put them right out in the open and they'd be hard to see anyway," Wulkowicz said.
Also there from Schuylkill County were Cheryl Leibold, Orwigsburg, her son, Clayton, Pottsville, and his family, wife, Jennifer, and children, Colton, 7, and Cooper, 5.
Colton was wearing a bright orange jacket, and Cooper was wearing bright green sneakers.
"That's so we can find them. This is the boys' third year doing it. They love it," Jennifer said.
Jennifer Liebold said what she liked about the event was it was more than just an egg hunt at Easter.
"I like that it's not about plastic, colored eggs. They're wooden and they get to keep one every year, and we have them up on our mantle, eggs of all different sizes," she said.
Each of the children who participated were allowed to take one of the wooden eggs home.
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is a 2,500-acre wildlife habitat straddling Berks and Schuylkill counties, which sees 70,000 visitors each year, Mary Linkevich, Hawk Mountain's director of communication and grants, said previously.