Bees, birds, forests and more at 44th Audubon Festival

SHARON — Sharon Audubon held its 44th summer festival on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 13 and 14.

The festival featured nature programs, hikes, live animal presentations, musical performances, arts and crafts and food for sale.

Bee expert Al Avitabile returned, to give another of his popular talks on swarming bees. Without protective gear, he approached a hive created for the demonstration and showed how bees, if not provoked, would not attack his hands and arms.

Avitabile explained that several teams of scout bees exit a hive and search for a new nesting place, like a hollow in a tree or between the walls of a home.

When a team locates a potential hive location it returns to the original hive. Because there is only one queen bee in a hive, the hive cannot swarm to all the different locations the scout teams have found.

One team of scouts dominates and convinces the swarm — and the queen bee with it — to move to one new location where a new hive is established.

Lorrie Schumacher of Talon Birds of Prey in Earlville, N.Y., did demonstrations with birds of prey. She and her daughter, Talon Skye, also delighted festival goers with a very active 4-month-old African white-necked raven, who delighted in catching and eating Cheerios tossed to her by children.

Some vendors were selling locally produced foods, emphasizing the farm-to-table concept that has gained popularity in recent years.

At an arts and crafts tent, 11-year-old Logan Grosclaude of Colebrook meticulously painted a colorful dragonfly model.

Click here for another picture from the Sharon Audubon Festival.