See our seeds come full circle! Join Audubon Mid-Atlantic in improving habitats for birds and wildlife here at the Discovery Center by removing invasive plants and replacing them with the native ones - some of which we started earlier this year. 

This is the 4th event in our Seed Stewards series. You can attend just one, or come back for future events to guide native seeds all the way through their life cycles.

This program is apart of Love Your Park Week, a citywide celebration of Philadelphia’s park system. 

Register here!

Saturday, May 9, 2026
10 am - 3:30 pm
Free of charge

POBS is excited to partner with Remake Learning Days to provide this day of canoeing with your loved ones at the Discovery Center in Fairmount Park! Four canoe sessions will be offered over the course of the day on a first come, first serve basis. POBS will provide instruction and all necessary equipment. This event is suitable for any skill level, including beginners or first-timers, ages 10 and up.

Participants will learning the basics of canoe safety and paddle skills and have a chance to try them out on the gentle, flat water of beautiful Strawberry Mansion Reservoir. Bird and other wildlife sightings are likely.

Before or after, participants are welcome to explore the nature trail and Visitor Center, or check out other public events happening at the Discovery Center.

Participants must fill out risk and liability waiver prior to participation. Children and youth must be accompanied by an adult age 18 or older. No need to register in advance, just show up!

This spring, show your favorite neighborhood park some love! Love Your Park Week is a nine-day celebration of Philadelphia's public parks from May 9-17, 2026, in partnership with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, Fairmount Park Conservancy, and Park Friends Groups across the city.

We will work to remove and replace our reservoir fence! Built when the Strawberry Mansion Reservoir was decommissioned in the 1970s, this chain-link fence will now be replaced with a less obtrusive cable fence. Volunteers will be helping to cut, remove, and dispose of sections of fencing, and then installing the new low visibility cables. Gloves, tools and information will be provided. Wear closed-toe shoes with long pants or high socks. If rain occurs, we will reach out with information on our next volunteer day.

Register here!

Join Audubon Mid-Atlantic for our Intro to Birding workshop! Birding is a hobby that is growing fast! It connects us to the natural world, is deeply joyful, and connects us to the community at large. But it can be intimidating to start. What equipment do I need? Where do I bird? There are so many, how do I know what I am looking at?!?

We'll answer these questions and more in this workshop. This program also includes a walk around our reservoir on a guided birding hike to put to action the things we have learned. No equipment necessary!

This program is apart of Love Your Park Week, a citywide celebration of Philadelphia’s park system. 

Register here!

Join artists Yvonne Love and Deirdre Murphy for nature journaling at the Discovery Center. The artists will begin by sharing images from their collaborative artworks that blend birdwatching data with hand painting, cut paper, and collage. 

Rooted in close observation of the local environment, the workshop invites participants—guided by naturalist insight and artistic prompts—to slow down, notice, and record what they see, hear and feel through drawing, writing, or both, exploring the productive juxtaposition of scientific observation and personal reflection to deepen their relationship to place. 

No experience or artistic ability is necessary. Pencils and notebooks will be provided or bring your own. 

This event coincides with Love and Murphy’s exhibitions on view at The John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove from April 18 - August 16, 2026. The artists partnered on artworks in Field Notes: Learning to See, on view in the historic house at Mill Grove. Deirdre Murphy’s paintings are featured in the solo exhibition Deirdre Murphy: Home Making, on view in the visitor center and historic house.

Learn more about the exhibitions and register here:

Join us at the Discovery Center for Canoeing and Conservation! This is a joint program offered by Philadelphia Outward Bound School (POBS) and Audubon Mid-Atlantic (AMA).

POBS will offer instruction in basic paddling skills and canoe safety.  Audubon educators will teach participants how to use binoculars to try and catch glimpses of the local flora and fauna that can be found within the Strawberry Mansion Reservoir’s unique urban aquatic ecosystem.

As participants make their way around the reservoir in canoes, AMA guides will help spot wildlife and offer some interpretation of the history of the reservoir. POBS will offer coaching to help participants paddle and steer canoes efficiently and safely.

Registration is first come, first served!