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Tour the Center

Click on the number or title for more details.

• The Amphitheater
  The Amphitheater at Shaver's Creek is on a slight incline behind the main visitor's center. It is surrounded by bird mews (cages/buildings) that are collectively called the Raptor Center.
  
  In the Shaver's Creek Amphitheater, you can meet our birds of prey. The "Meet our Birds of Prey" shows are presented free every weekend afternoon, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., from April through November.
  
  Other shows are presented during Shaver's Creek Festivals and throughout the year.
  
  We schedule shows with your convenience in mind. Hire us to give your group a Bird of Prey show—on location at Shaver's Creek or at your destination of choice.
  
• The Discovery Room
  The hands-on exhibits in the Discovery Room bring out the kid in everyone. Explore animal tracks, constellations, and other cultural and natural history games. The Children's Loft in the discovery room is a favorite spot for many visitors.
  
  Under the Children's Loft, you will find live Pennsylvania toads, turtles, and snakes, just waiting for your visit.
  
• The Flight Cage
  The flight cage is a space for isolating raptors due to health or behavioral reasons. Raptors in this area are not on display to the public.
  
• Welcome Center and Pennsylvania Nature Book and Gift Shop
  
  A friendly greeting awaits you at the Welcome Center at Shaver's Creek.
  
  Learn of each day's activities. Find programming information to take home. Talk to friends. Buy books, bird feeders, toys, and gifts in our Pennsylvania Nature Book and Gift Shop.
  
  We specialize in indigenous central Pennsylvania natural and cultural history.
  
• The Garbage Cemetery
  The Garbage Cemetery began its life in the front garden. It now resides beside the public restrooms. This cemetery provides a stunning visual reminder of our daily effects on the earth.
  
  On each tombstone, you will read the life span of a type of discarded item before it decomposes into the earth.
  
• The Herb and Flower Gardens
  The yards leading to the Visitors' Welcome Center are patterned with beautiful herb and flower gardens, scattered with lawn chairs, and separated from the woods by a picnic table area.
  
  Many volunteers add personal touches to these plant beds. Lawn chairs invite you to sit and listen under the big pine tree or beside the hummingbird feeders. A small pond attracts dragonflies, frogs, and salamanders (and children). Butterflies visit the many blossoms.
  
  Summer day-campers frolic here. Groups rent this wonderful setting (after 5:00 p.m.) for picnics and gatherings, using the lower classroom as a back-up rain space.
  
  Trails cross the lawn. Explore them soon.
  
• Lower Classroom
  Absorb the view from the large picture window overlooking the fountain and bird feeder. Speakers bring in the outdoor sounds. A library of reading materials and reference books are at your fingertips. Use this room as a reading retreat. It is often the coolest room at the center in the summer, and the woodstove keeps it cozy in the winter.
  
  The Lower Classroom is truly a multipurpose room.
  
  You may rent the Lower Classroom, when available, for meetings and other gatherings.
  
• Picnic Areas
  The front lawn is edged on the west by wooden picnic tables. Another row of tables is located by the Upper Classroom.
  
  Bring your picnic lunch and enjoy these restful spots.
  
  More tables and pavilions are available at the Stone Valley Recreation Area's day-use area, just a short drive, or ten-minute walk, east of Shaver's Creek.
  
• The Raptor Center
  Outside and behind the main visitors' center (on a slight incline), you will find the Raptor Center of Shaver's Creek.
  
  Here you will see nearly twenty resident birds of prey housed in six large mews. Observe live eagles, hawks, vultures, owls, and falcons. Learn about the raptors that migrate through our region as you visit one of the most unique raptor facilities in the United States.
  
  Behind the Bald Eagle cages, you also find bat houses. During the warmer months, a population of more than 1,200 brown bats live here.
  
• The Upper Classroom
  Walking a short distance behind the eagle cages or public restroom, you will find yourself perched on the deck outside the Upper Classroom at Shaver's Creek.
  
  Classes and rental groups use the Upper Classroom throughout the year. Surround yourself with nature; rent the Upper Classroom for your group event. Off the deck of the classroom, picnic tables sit under trees.
  
  This facility is equipped with presentation equipment and climate control.

Restrooms
New and exceptionally nice universal access public restrooms with tiled floors opened in May 2007 to accommodate visitors and groups.

To find the public restrooms, follow the paved pathway and the yellow directional signs from the Visitors' Welcome Center. You will pass the owl cages.

Accessibility
Shaver's Creek continues to improve accessibility to the Environmental Center and grounds. In 2008, funding from PA Department of Conservation of Natural Resources and Penn State's Access Committee will allow for construction of a new universal access trail to the lake front downhill from the center.

Ramps create access to the Welcome Center/Gift Shop, Discovery Room, Library Bird-watching Room, Woodshed Deck, and Upper Classroom.

Paved paths access the restroom and parking lot.

The Raptor Center pathways have been properly graded, paved with crushed limestone, and tamped for better mobility and better viewing of the birds of prey in their outdoor cages.

Boardwalk

In 2006, our reconstructed Boardwalk over the wetlands at the inflow of Lake Perez was completed. Visitors thoroughly enjoy the sights and sounds of the Boardwalk, and children love leaning over the rails to view newts, frogs, snakes, turtles, and fish in the waters below. Take the Lake Trail from the staff parking lot and make the first right down the Grapevine Trail to reach the Boardwalk.

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