Devin Banning, the information contact and count coordinator of the Ripley Hawk Watch, is the presenter at Audubon Community Nature Center’s First Friday on April 3.

JAMESTOWN — Every spring from March 15 to May 15, volunteers join the Ripley Hawk Watch to witness and document the spectacle of raptor and passerine migration.

Residents are invited to join Devin Banning to learn about “Raptor Migration at the Ripley Hawk Watch” at Audubon Community Nature Center’s First Friday, April 3 at 11 a.m.

Each season an average of 15,000-20,000 raptors pass over the site. The watch is uniquely situated on a busy flyway for bird, bat, and butterfly migration. Documenting the seasonal movements of these organisms provides important data to help scientists and others understand the natural world.

A recent graduate of SUNY Fredonia, Banning currently works as a music teacher at Alden High School. Though his career choice is in music, he is an avid birder and amateur naturalist. The information contact and count coordinator of the Ripley Hawk Watch, Banning is a co-founder of the Chautauqua-Warren Birding Association (CWBA) and frequently leads programs and birding outings with Katelyn Davis for the CWBA and Buffalo Ornithological Society.

Participants are welcome to bring a packed lunch and visit with Banning and attendees after the program.

Fee is $8 or $6 for Nature Center members and children ages 9 to 15. Reservations are appreciated and can be made by calling (716) 569-2345 or online at AudubonCNC.org/April-First-Friday. Walk-ins are welcome.

Audubon Community Nature Center is located at 1600 Riverside Road, one-quarter mile east of Route 62 between Jamestown, N.Y., and Warren, Pa. You can visit the nearly 600-acre nature preserve, check in on the live birds of prey, and hike the six miles of trails dawn until dusk daily for free.

The three-story Nature Center building houses interactive displays, a collection of live animals, the 2025 Nature Photography Contest winners, and the Blue Heron Gift Shop. Visitors are welcome Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., and Sundays, 1-4:30 p.m. Nature Center members and SNAP/EBT and Arts Access cardholders have free building admission daily. Building admission is also free Sundays for non-Nature Center members.

To learn more about Audubon and its many programs, call (716) 569-2345, find Audubon Community Nature Center on Facebook or Instagram, or visit AudubonCNC.org. Check out AudubonCNC.org/about for a quick fly-by. Get the details for submitting or voting on entries in the 2026 Nature Photography Contest at AudubonCNC.org/Photo-Contest.

Audubon Community Nature Center builds and nurtures connections between people and nature by providing positive outdoor experiences, opportunities to learn about and understand the natural world, and knowledge to act in environmentally responsible ways.