RAPTORS: Ever wondered where to go to have a good chance of seeing eagles or osprey?
Lucky for us, there are a lot of places along the Allegheny River. The website visitpa.com, the tourism site for Pennsylvania’s Great Outdoors region, has even more ideas.
At George B. Stevenson Reservoir, at Sinnemahoning State Park in Southern Cameron County, eagles and ospreys are often seen. For several decades a pair of eagles have set up year-round residence. During the summer, the park offers pontoon boat tours of the lake and eagle-watching excursions. The Sinnemahoning Watershed is mentioned, too, with Bennett Branch, Driftwood Branch, and Sinnemahoning Creek.
The Clarion River meanders through the narrow valleys and hardwood forests flowing from Johnsonburg in Elk County through Cook Forest State Park in Forest County. River Road offers visitors a great way to search for eagles and other wildlife.
Buzzard Swamp Wildlife Management Area located in the Allegheny National Forest near Marienville, features 15 ponds with 11.2 miles of trails offering exceptional wildlife viewing. It is an important link on the Atlantic flyway waterfowl migration path.
Tionesta Lake, with 480 acres in Forest County with a maximum depth of 46 feet for unlimited horsepower boating, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, swimming, wildlife watching, and picnicking, with three campgrounds.
There’s East Branch Lake in Elk County surrounded by Elk State Park with unlimited horsepower boating, picnicking, fishing, kayaking, wildlife watching, and a scenic overlook.
Beaver Run Dam Wildlife Viewing Area, a shallow water impoundment in Quehanna Wilds in Cameron County features large wetlands and an osprey nest.
Tionesta Creek, a tributary of the Allegheny River in Forest County is a great place to see eagles hunting for fish, as is Laurel Run Reservoir, a stocked, 92-acre reservoir near St. Marys.
Find more great places to see wildlife at VisitPAGO.com.