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WAPELLO/DAVIS COUNTY, IOWA -- Pioneer Ridge Nature Preserve will be hosting a bird count on Friday.

The event will be taking place all over Wapello County and parts of Davis County.

Organizers are asking that if you want to participate in the bird count at Pioneer Ridge, to arrive at 8 in the morning.

“We are just trying to help out the Audubon Society. They take this information that we find, such as how many birds are counted, the types of birds that we find in Wapello County; and all of the information goes into their system. They use that to figure out how the health of the birds and their populations have changed throughout the years; and they try to figure out what they can do on the conservation level to help them if they need to change the things that they are doing,” said Naturalist Annette Wittrock with Pioneer Ridge Nature Center.

Wittrock also shared the center’s expansion plans.

“Right now at the Pioneer Ridge Nature Area, we are working on some savannah restoration, so this extra 250 acres is going to be apart of the savannah restoration as well as some other projects. It is going to be a long term project. Eventually, there will be trails out there, but this 250 acres brings us close to 1000 acres total for the Pioneer Ridge Nature Area,” Wittrock said.

You can learn more about Pioneer Ridge Nature Preserve here.

You can learn more about the National Audubon Society here.