Tree Time at Powdermill
2024-09-14 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
What tree is this? What’s ailing our trees? How healthy are our forests? Join Powdermill scientists Rose-Marie Muzika and Andrea Kautz for quarterly talks all about trees, forests, and current issues they face. Build your tree identification skills and discover the natural history of Powdermill Nature Reserve. Get facts about insects and diseases that plague trees and threaten forests, and learn about forest health in our area and region. Bring your questions and curiosity!

Tree Time
Saturday, September 14, 2024
1:00-2:00 p.m.

Powdermill Avian Research Center Open House
2024-09-21 08:00 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
Join us for an open house at the Powdermill Avian Research Center (PARC)! Although PARC is operational year-round, it typically is closed to the public. Stop by anytime during the Open House to get a behind-the-scenes look at what some of our scientists are up to. You’ll be able to see the bird banding processes up close, learn about how we catch them, find out what data is recorded, etc. This event is free! But please RSVP!

PARC Open House
September 21, 2024
8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Moriarty Science Seminar: Searching for Thylacines
2024-09-23 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid: Online and At the Museum
Searching for Thylacines (Tasmanian Wolves or Tigers) in Natural History Collections
Monday, September 23, 2024, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Earth Theater and online via Zoom
Featuring John Wible, Curator of Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History
This lecture is free. Museum admission is not required.

Europeans settled Tasmania in 1803. One-hundred and twenty-seven years later, the last thylacine was shot in the wild in northwest Tasmania, and on September 7, 1936, the last known thylacine died in captivity at the Hobart Zoo. What happened during those 133 years that resulted in the extermination of this largest marsupial carnivore? Multiple factors are responsible, including public misperceptions that led to private and government bounties. Science, natural history museums, and zoos played a role, with a mad dash to obtain specimens before there were no more.
Some 500 thylacine specimens are in museums today, including one relatively complete skeleton in the Section of Mammals, Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The origin of the CM specimen is a mystery; it was accessioned in 1942 along with 211 specimens discovered during a storeroom reorganization. Inspired by the CM specimen, John Wible’s bucket list is to study in person as many of these thylacines as possible, documenting variation in skull morphology.
Click here to register to attend virtually via Zoom. Registration is not necessary to attend in person. Museum admission is not included with the lecture. Visitor Services staff can direct you to Earth Theater on arrival.

How Do Ecologists Read a Landscape?
2024-10-05 14:00 - 15:30 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
Meet us at Powdermill Nature Reserve for a guided nature walk inspired by Carnegie Museum of Art’s exhibition Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape, currently on view in the art museum’s galleries, which are right next door to ours, all in the same building.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History scientists, Mason Heberling, Associate Curator of Botany, and Rachel Reeb, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Botany, will lead a guided walk and teach you how to read a landscape like an ecologist, identify spatial patterns, study compositions of plants and animals, and spot signs of environmental degradation and repair.

How Do Ecologists Read a Landscape?
Saturday, October 5, 2024 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Related Exhibition

Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape

Moriarty Science Seminar: How the Herbarium Shaped Botany
2024-10-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid: Online and At the Museum
Imperial Order: How the Herbarium Shaped Botany from the Enlightenment to the Early United States
Monday, October 7, 2024, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Earth Theater and online via Zoom
Featuring Molly Hardy, National Endowment for the Humanities
This lecture is free, museum admission is not required.

A product of the Enlightenment, the herbarium cabinet lays out strictures for the natural world, and it became the way that botanical information was organized, but it also came to organize botanical thinking. Through its reordering of nature into the taxonomic system of categories and relationships within those categories, the herbarium takes the ecological system as it exists in the natural world and effectively makes a new system. This new system is what Dr. Hardy calls an “information ecology,” one in which the plant must first become a singular, individual unit— a species specimen—that then can be ordered to function in Botany’s taxonomic systems.
The talk begins with a look at Carl Linnaeus’ plans for the herbarium cabinet, laid out in his botanical treatise, Philosophia Botanica (1751). Linnaeus eschewed the bound book for a piece of furniture filled with plants dried on sheets and organized according to his botanical system. This new information architecture ordered flora in a way that reflected Botany’s inextricable ties to empire. The herbarium reflected the philosophical thinking underlying Linnaeus’ work, and then, the herbarium came to shape botanical thinking by atomizing plant communities and mechanizing plant specimens for ease of ordering and reordering, storing and retrieving.
Dr. Hardy next turns to Botany in the early United States, where the Linnaean system of botanical order was adopted. A century after Linnaeus, Asa Gray, a self-proclaimed “closet botanist,” praised the herbarium as the indispensable tool for the burgeoning field of plant science in the United States. The individuation of species, required for the herbarium to function, became Gray’s life work as he toiled tirelessly to classify and name the plants collected as the new nation expanded west. Plants from these peripheries of the American empire came east to be organized, and ordered, in Gray’s herbarium at Harvard.
Click here to register to attend virtually via Zoom. Registration is not necessary. Museum admission is not included with the lecture. Visitor Services staff can direct you to Earth Theater on arrival.

Teen Night: Ghoulish Galleries
2024-10-10 17:00 - 20:00 | At the Museum, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-4007, United States
Thursday, October 10, 2024, 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History
Free for teen members.

Teens are invited to a spooky night in Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History’s Ghoulish Galleries! Experience a night of eerie fun with a bug-tasting booth, where you can trick or treat yourself to some creepy crawlers. Learn all about bats, insects, and arachnids in an interactive setting, create your own wearable costume, and make a deconstructed stuffed animal. Teens will enjoy a Halloween playlist curated by a live DJ, get a custom caricature, and take home goody bags.
This event is for teens ages 13-18 and will be held during open hours at Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Click here to register Teen Night: Ghoulish Galleries.
Teen Membership is generously supported by
The Grable Foundation and the Robert and Mary Weisbrod Foundation
Community Access Membership is presented by

Powdermill Avian Research Center Free Guided Tour
2024-10-11 08:00 - 09:30 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
Enjoy a free guided tour of the bird banding lab and research facility including the flight tunnel. Visit the bird banding lab and see up-close how researchers safely capture and band birds, and learn about the data they gather. Hear about how we’re studying avian perception of glass to provide glass manufacturers and building designers with important information that will help reduce bird-window collisions. This event takes place in an area typically closed to the public, so make sure you don’t miss it!
Guests must pre-register for the tour and arrive at PARC by 8:00 a.m. The tour is 1.5 hours long.

PARC Free Guided Tour
October 11, 2024
8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Colors of the River at Powdermill
2024-10-13 13:00 - 14:00 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
When: Sunday, October 13, 2024, 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Where: Powdermill Nature Reserve Visitor’s Center
Pay What You Wish
Have you ever wondered if the colors around us are more than just pretty? Join us as we venture into Southwestern Pennsylvania’s waterways to explore pigments, riparian ecology, and what they can tell us about water quality. We will use art-based research methods to understand abstract scientific concepts by making paintings out of the surrounding colored materials such as leaves, bark, and rocks. Artistic skills or research experience are not required, only an open mind and clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty.
Event led by Three Rivers Waterkeeper’s Sierra Weir (she/they)

Colors of the River

Haunted Museum After Dark
2024-10-18 18:00 - 22:00 | At the Museum, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-4007, United States
Friday, October 18, 2024, 6 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
$24 (Members $19)
Ages 21+ Only

Put on your costume and party with us at Carnegie Museum of Natural History! See frighteningly fantastic specimens, explore the museum’s haunted halls after hours, and be prepared…you never know what surprises are in store.
Activities include:

* Watch a live pumpkin carving by the Pittsburgh Pumpkin Guy
* Indulge in themed cocktails like the Vampire Kiss and Hocus Potion
* Learn about frighteningly fantastic specimens from mollusk experts Tim Pearce and Sabrina Spiher Robinson, and insect scientists Ainsley Seago and Vanessa Verdecia.
* Make a Halloween mosaic with Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse
* Go on a virtual ghost tour with Haunted Pittsburgh
* Mix a ‘90s-themed mocktail with Songbird Artistry
* Watch a live sculpting demonstration by Justin Harvilla of 3 Stone Arts

A Spanish language interpreter will be on-site for the duration of the event to translate special spotlight tours in the exhibitions. Check out the printed schedule, provided in Spanish at the event, to find the time and location of the activities where interpretation is available.
Haunted Museum After Dark tickets include admission to Carnegie Museum of Natural History for the evening. Food and beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) will be available for purchase.
Costumes are encouraged, but must follow the guidelines below.

Buy Tickets Now

Costumes may be worn according to these guidelines. Guests who do not adhere to these guidelines may be refused entry or asked to leave, unless the costume can be modified to meet them.

Costumes may not be obstructive, offensive, objectionable, or violent.
Costumes may not contain any props or accessories that resemble or could easily be mistaken for an actual weapon. Costumes may not contain any prop or accessory that resembles a gun.
Costumes may not contain sharp objects, pointed objects or materials that may accidentally strike or impede another guest.
Costumes may not drag on the ground (dress trains, robe trains, etc).
Costume masks of any kind may not be worn.
Costume headwear may be worn if it does not cover the face.
Anything worn on the back may not be any wider than your elbows can extend to the side.
Large costumes or costume props that surround the entire body are strongly discouraged. Props and/or costume elements should not be any wider than your elbows can extend to the side.

Sponsored by

Powdermill Avian Research Center Open House
2024-10-19 08:00 - 11:00 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
Join us for an open house at the Powdermill Avian Research Center (PARC)! Although PARC is operational year-round, it typically is closed to the public. Stop by anytime during the Open House to get a behind-the-scenes look at what some of our scientists are up to. You’ll be able to see the bird banding processes up close, learn about how we catch them, find out what data is recorded, etc. This event is free! But please RSVP!

PARC Open House
October 19, 2024
8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Moriarty Science Seminar: How Geckos Rule the Night
2024-10-21 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid: Online and At the Museum
Photo Credit: Tyger Williams, TNS
How Geckos Rule the Night: From Ancient Amber to Modern Stowaways
Monday, October 21, 2024, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Earth Theater and online via Zoom
Featuring Aaron Bauer, Villanova University
This lecture is free. Museum admission is not required.
With more than 2300 extant species, geckos are one of the most species-rich groups of living reptiles and can be seen as an evolutionary success story. Their distinctive body plan was established approximately 150 million years ago and they had already diversified extensively by the Late Cretaceous, as demonstrated by 100-million-year-old amber fossils from Myanmar. Most geckos are nocturnal, and this is likely one of the keys to the success of the group. The evolution of diverse architectures of adhesive toepads has also promoted diversification in gecko lineages. Although constrained in some aspects of their morphology and ecology, modern gecko diversity is promoted by the combination of substrate specificity and low vagility, resulting in extensive allopatric speciation. As a result, many gecko genera are speciose, but individual species are restricted to small areas of occurrence. Paradoxically, a few species of geckos have evolved traits that not only permit them to occupy larger areas, but also make them successful invasive species. These few “super-colonizers” have been spread between continents through human activity, from the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the development of modern shipping routes.
Click here to register to attend virtually via Zoom. Registration is not necessary to attend in person. Museum admission is not included with the lecture. Visitor Services staff can direct you to Earth Theater on arrival.

Educator Workshop: Real Science in the Classroom
2024-10-22 09:00 - 15:00 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
This workshop takes place at Powdermill Nature Reserve in Rector, PA
Understanding scientific research and how to apply it is an important part of a learner’s process and will be a critical component of the new STEELS standards. Join us at Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s environmental research center in Rector, PA for this new workshop focused on incorporating scientific research into curriculum and informal learning programs. Using the new STEELS standards as guidance, Powdermill educators and experts will discuss how we apply ecological research and how to make it understandable and accessible to learners.
We encourage formal and informal educators from all disciplines to join us for this great opportunity to collaborate and share ideas.
If more than 50% of your students qualify for free or reduced-price school lunch, your school or organization will be eligible for a scholarship towards a museum field trip after the workshop.
Funding is available to reimburse your school or district for substitute teacher costs on the day that you attend this workshop.
When: Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Where: Powdermill Nature Reserve, Rector, PA

Moriarty Science Seminar: Genomics, Informatics, and Conservation
2024-11-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid: Online and At the Museum
Genomics, Informatics, and Conservation
Monday, November 11, 2024, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Earth Theater and online via Zoom
Featuring Keith Crandall, George Washington University
This lecture is free. Museum admission is not required.
Omics technologies (genomics, transcriptomics, metagenomics, etc.) have revolutionized insights into organismal diversity, evolutionary history, and functional diversity – all critical elements of effective conservation, management, and sustainability practices. Advances in new data types require novel computational tools to effectively take advantage of such data and integrate with additional relevant data (e.g., demographic, economic, climate, geologic, etc.). The Crandall Lab develops tools for omics data analyses (especially DNA/RNA sequence data) and integration with other data types. Some of these tools and applications will be demonstrated with ongoing research projects around microbiome research, conservation, and sustainability with links to ongoing international projects including FutureEarth, World Registry of Marine Species (WoRMS), and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and associated Species Survival Commission (SSC).
Click here to register to attend virtually via Zoom. Registration is not necessary to attend in person. Museum admission is not included with the lecture. Visitor Services staff can direct you to Earth Theater on arrival.

Teen Night: Hiber-Nature
2024-11-14 17:00 - 21:00 | At the Museum, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-4007, United States

Senior Social: Midday Musings
2024-12-05 12:00 - 16:00 | At the Museum, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-4007, United States
When: Thursday, December 5, 12:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Where: Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pay what you wish
Senior Social: Midday Musings at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Looking for an exciting way to spend your afternoon?
Carnegie Museum of Natural History invites you to explore nature throughout the museum with an open house featuring activities for seniors. Dinosaurs! Mammals! Gems! Minerals! Botany! Birds! World Cultures! Meet some of the museum’s Natural History Interpreters and journey through the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s most historic, scientifically significant, and beloved collections.
Coffee, tea and light snacks will be available in the Senior Social lounge.
Reserve early – this event will sell out! Open to Members ages 65+.
Community Access Membership is presented by:

Senior Membership is generously supported by Eat’n Park.

Family Nature Hike at Powdermill
2024-12-07 14:00 - 15:00 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
Family Nature Hike
Saturday, December 7, 2024, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Powdermill Nature Reserve
Free
Join us as we hit the trails for a guided nature walk! We’ll meet in the atrium of the Powdermill Nature Center at 2 pm before heading outside to explore. This family-friendly experience is open to participants of all ages.
Events fill up fast! Registration is recommended to guarantee your spot and help us plan timing, seating, and/or trail routes. If there are spots available at the time of the program, non-registered individuals can join on a first-come, first-served basis.
Powdermill Nature Reserve is located at 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA 15677.

Sold out? Sign up for our waitlist!

Moriarty Science Seminar: Future-proofing Museum Collections
2024-12-09 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid: Online and At the Museum
Future-proofing Museum Collections: Collections Care and Access at Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Monday, December 9, 2024, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Earth Theater and online via Zoom
Featuring Kathy Hollis, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
This lecture is free. Museum admission is not required.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History stewards a collection that is more than a repository of specimens—it is a dynamic archive of the natural world, each item telling a unique story about our planet and our place in it. From butterflies and trilobites to preserved snakes and ancient pottery, these collections are primary data about the natural world. Future-proofing collections—ensuring preservation and accessibility for generations—has long been the duty of natural history museums. Yet, shifting research methods, global environmental and technological changes, and evolving perspectives within the museum profession have all changed how collections must be cared for and made accessible. Recent projects have laid a strong foundation for the future, but without a museum-wide strategy, their full potential remains unrealized. In 2022, Carnegie Museum of Natural History set bold, 10-year goals through its opportunity assessment “Evolving Natural History: A Roadmap for the Next Decade,” which includes strategic objectives for future-proofing collections. To bring this vision to life, Carnegie Museum of Natural History is undertaking a comprehensive strategy—one that is focused on collaborative teamwork, building our technological capacity, and modernizing collection management practices. By implementing this strategy, the collections in our care can become a true public resource for our community and collaborators to inspire, educate, and engage for generations to come.
Click here to register to attend virtually via Zoom. Registration is not necessary to attend in person. Museum admission is not included with the lecture. Visitor Services staff can direct you to Earth Theater on arrival.

Super Science Saturday: Light and Color in Nature
2024-12-14 12:00 - 16:00 | At the Museum, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-4007, United States
Saturday, December 14, 2024, Noon – 4 p.m.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Free with museum admission

Colors and light play important roles in the natural world, and things aren’t always how they appear! Explore the visual features animals use to blend in and stand out. Inspect beautiful minerals and gems that dazzle, and how they change when different types of light are cast. Watch iridescent insects change color before your eyes. Find nature’s rainbow, and more, as we examine light, color, and patterns in the natural world around us.
Museum Admission is Required to Attend This Event
Get tickets and select Dec. 14 for the date of your visit.

Sponsors
Super Science Saturdays are sponsored by PA Cyber, Tender Care Learning Centers, a proud partner of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and Discover Westmoreland.

Teen Night: Pittsburgh Promise
2024-12-14 17:00 - 20:00

Jolly Opossum
2024-12-21 12:00 - 14:00 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
Saturday, December 21, 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Powdermill Nature Reserve, Rector, PA
Pay what you wish
Join us at Powdermill Nature Reserve to hear the tale of the Jolly Opossum! This story will delve into what the creatures of the forest are up to during the holidays. Meet Dr. Skunk, Mx. Chickadee, Mr. Bear, and, of course, the Jolly Opossum. We will also make festive holiday ornaments/decorations. Children of all ages are welcome.

Family Nature Hike at Powdermill
2025-01-04 14:00 - 15:00 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
When: Saturday, January 4, 2025, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Where: Powdermill Nature Reserve
Tickets: Free
Join us as we hit the trails for a guided nature walk! We’ll meet in the atrium of the Powdermill Nature Center at 2:00 p.m. before heading outside to explore. This family-friendly experience is open to participants of all ages.
Events fill up fast! Registration is recommended to guarantee your spot and help us plan timing, seating, and/or trail routes. If there are spots available at the time of the program, non-registered individuals can join on a first-come, first-served basis.
Powdermill Nature Reserve is located at 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA 15677.

Sold out? Sign up for our waitlist!

Moriarty Science Seminar: Gender in Mineral Names
2025-01-13 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid: Online and At the Museum
Gender in Mineral Names: A Record of Past and Ongoing Diversity Challenges in the Earth Sciences
Speaker: Chris Emproto, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
When: Monday, January 13, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Earth Theater at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and online via Zoom
Tickets: This lecture is free. Museum admission is not required.
Learn about scientific discoveries directly from the experts in the field. Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s scientific research staff and invited speakers discuss their latest findings on numerous scientific topics at the R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar series.
Click here to register to attend virtually via Zoom. Registration is not necessary to attend in person. Museum admission is not included with the lecture. Visitor Services staff can direct you to Earth Theater on arrival.
Talk Abstract
There are currently more than 6,000 unique mineral species recognized by the global mineralogical community. Proposals describing potentially new minerals are submitted to the International Mineralogical Association Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature, and Classification for review and approval. The Commission also votes on the name suggested by the authors. Common ways to name minerals include references to distinct chemical or physical properties, the location where the mineral was found, or after a person involved in the discovery or who is prominent in the field of mineralogy. For this reason, mineral names encode aspects of scientific and cultural history. But can mineral names also tell us about the future? By tracking the demographics of mineral eponyms over time, Chris Emproto and colleagues were able to see changes in who is represented among mineral names and how eponym demographics have evolved, with an emphasis on gender. Contrary to expectation, their results indicated that women’s representation among eponyms has not increased significantly in the last two decades but remains stalled at around 11%. This trend contrasts with educational data that instead show improvements in women’s representation. The results emphasize the ongoing need for more intentional recruitment of underrepresented groups in the Earth sciences.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Spotlights
2025-01-20 11:00 - 15:00 | At the Museum, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-4007, United States
When: Monday, January 20, 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Where: Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Tickets: Free with Museum Admission
Drop-in for Spotlights led by Natural History Interpreters in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 20. Learn about simple changes we can make to protect the environment and improve the world around us on this national day of service. Discover how Harriet Tubman used her deep knowledge of the weather, wildlife, and plants to lead enslaved people to safety on the Underground Railroad, and see a muskrat specimen up close.
Buy your tickets in advance!

Educator Workshop: Using Fossils to Understand Ancient Earth
2025-01-28 09:00 - 15:00 | At the Museum, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-4007, United States
The new STEELS standards shift away from memorization of facts to productive participation in scientific practice with the goal of deeper understanding. In this workshop, we’ll work together to model the new standards using fossils and paleontology as an example of how to work through this process. Participants will have time to explore the exhibitions Dinosaurs in Their Time and Benedum Hall of Geology with guidance from museum experts to investigate how the study of fossils helps us understand Ancient Earth. This workshop is a hands-on opportunity to practice the STEELS standards with fellow educators and build out resources to help with the transition.
We encourage formal and informal educators from all disciplines to join us for this great opportunity to collaborate and share ideas.
If more than 50% of your students qualify for free or reduced-price school lunch, your school or organization will be eligible for a scholarship towards a museum field trip after the workshop.
Funding is available to reimburse your school or district for substitute teacher costs on the day that you attend this workshop.
When: Tuesday, January 28, 2025, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Where: Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Black History Month Spotlights
2025-02-01 11:00 - 15:00 | At the Museum, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-4007, United States
When: Saturdays and Sundays, 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Where: Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Tickets: Free with Museum Admission
Drop-in for Spotlights throughout the museum led by Natural History Interpreters to celebrate Black History Month. Learn about Black naturalists past and present, such as Harriet Tubman, birder and conservationist J. Drew Lanham, and urban ecologist Christopher Schnell. Explore Pittsburgh’s steel history and the role of Black steelworkers. Plus, see mineral, bird, and mammal specimens up close. Spotlights will vary throughout the month, and each experience will be unique.
Buy Admission Tickets in Advance

Museum Highlight Tours: Black History Month
2025-02-01 12:30 - 13:00 | At the Museum, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-4007, United States
When: Saturdays and Sundays, 12:30-1:00 p.m. and Thursdays, 5:00-5:30 p.m.
Where: Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Tickets: Free with Museum Admission
Join our museum experts for a 30-minute tour exploring all things natural history to celebrate Black History Month. Come see the museum in a new light as we explore the history and contributions of members of the Black community to the fields of science and nature.
Look for the tour sign-in at the entrance to Dinosaurs in Their Time. Limited capacity.
Buy your tickets in advance!

Family Nature Hike at Powdermill
2025-02-01 14:00 - 15:00 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
Family Nature Hike
Saturday, February 1, 2025, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Powdermill Nature Reserve
Free
Join us as we hit the trails for a guided nature walk! We’ll meet in the atrium of the Powdermill Nature Center at 2 pm before heading outside to explore. This family-friendly experience is open to participants of all ages.
Events fill up fast! Registration is recommended to guarantee your spot and help us plan timing, seating, and/or trail routes. If there are spots available at the time of the program, non-registered individuals can join on a first-come, first-served basis.
Powdermill Nature Reserve is located at 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA 15677.

Sold out? Sign up for our waitlist!

Moriarty Science Seminar: Long-distance migration in Nightingale-thrushes
2025-02-10 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid: Online and At the Museum
Functional Morphology and the Origin of Long-distance migration in nightingale-thrushes (Turdidae: Catharus)
Monday, February 10, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Earth Theater and online via Zoom
Matt Halley, Delaware Museum of Nature & Science
This lecture is free. Museum admission is not required.
Learn about scientific discoveries directly from the experts in the field. Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s scientific research staff and invited speakers discuss their latest findings on numerous scientific topics at the R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar series.
Click here to register to attend virtually via Zoom. Registration is not necessary to attend in person. Museum admission is not included with the lecture. Visitor Services staff can direct you to Earth Theater on arrival.
Abstract for “Long-Distance Migration in Nightingale-thrushes (Turdidae: Catharus)”

The nightingale-thrushes (genus Catharus) are a clade of (mostly) American songbirds with diverse migratory strategies. With large datasets of molecular and morphometric characters, Halley and colleagues have resolved phylogenetic relationships, described new species and subspecies, identified and modeled migration-related morphological characters, and estimated ancestral states of those characters to infer evolutionary transitions in the migratory phenotype. The results indicate that (1) migratory behavior and its functional morphology are fundamentally linked and can be accurately modeled along a linear axis; (2) short distance and elevational migration were precursors to long distance migration; and (3) the homoplasy of the migratory phenotype, as noted by previous authors, may not have been caused by evolutionary convergence following independent origins of migration, as previously suggested, but successive “budding” of daughter lineages from a “persistent ancestor” in evolutionary stasis.
About the Speaker

Dr. Matthew R. Halley is an ornithologist and historian from south-east Pennsylvania, who has authored dozens of research papers about bird evolution and the history of American science. He is the Assistant Curator of Birds at the Delaware Museum of Nature & Science (Wilmington, DE) and a Research Associate at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA), where he earned his Ph.D. in 2021. Halley’s research is wide-ranging and interdisciplinary, combining a variety of methods including phylogenetic analysis, population genetics, morphometric analysis, video cameras, audio recorders, tracking devices, and taxonomic study of preserved specimens. He has also uncovered a litany of unpublished primary sources, during the last decade, which have reshaped our understanding of historical figures like Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon, and the development of scientific ornithology in the United States.

Sensory Friendly Weekend
2025-02-22 10:00 - 17:00
When: February 22 – 23, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Where: Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Tickets: Free with Museum Admission
Families with members who have sensory processing needs are invited to explore the museum galleries with reduced audio and visual elements. Calming spaces with support materials, including single-use ear plugs, sunglasses, fidget toys, etc., will be available. Museum experts will be on-hand to talk for as little or as long as you want about favorite topics like dinosaurs, rocks, gems, animals, bugs, and much more. Every program is designed to welcome all ages and abilities.
Standard sensory friendly supports are in place during regular hours for all Carnegie Museum of Natural History visitors:
• Lower lighting in select galleries
• Video sounds and exhibit background audio turned off in select galleries
• Calming spaces
• Takeaway support materials (single-use ear plugs, sunglasses, fidget toys, etc.)
To provide the most sensory friendly environment possible, advance registration is recommended. Pre-registration is available online until 3:00 p.m. on the day prior to the program. All customers who pre-register will receive a welcome packet via e-mail with detailed information about the event.
Register for February 22

Register for February 23

World of Nests
2025-02-22 11:00 - 15:00 | Powdermill Nature Reserve, 1795 Route 381, Rector, PA, 15677, United States
When: Saturday, February 22, 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Where: Powdermill Nature Reserve
Tickets: Free
Join us for a celebration of the fascinating world of animal nests. Take a guided hike on the Powdermill trails to spot nests in the trees and on the ground. Build a bluebird box to help boost the local Eastern Bluebird population. Learn about different types of nests insects make, and create your own nest out of chocolate! This is an all ages event and features crafts and activities for kids.
