In many regards, the Lehigh Gap Nature Center seems to exist in a world far from human intervention. Nestled between a gap in Kittatinny Ridge, the center’s Osprey House is only a short distance from a bustling road. Still, upon arrival, it’s easy to feel as if you’ve taken a steep dip into the natural world.

That feeling radiated Saturday during the center’s annual Migration Fest, a free event centered on the wonders of bird and butterfly migration.

Migration Fest took off in the early morning. The commemoration kicked off with two adventures: a trip up to Bake Oven Knob to watch hawks and other birds of prey and a family bird walk.

Amanda Bombico and her children, Elias, 11; Corbin, 7; and Cordelia, 4, of Jim Thorpe, trekked the latter. The family, Bombico said, consider nature a cornerstone in their homeschool curriculum.

“If we don’t teach our kids to love nature, then who’s going to take care of it when we’re gone?” Bombico asked.

“You can learn everything — from math, science, history — you can learn from nature,” she added.

The Bombico family hiked a trail near the Osprey House like a seasoned nature troupe, searching for birds resting in its vicinity. But the journey wasn’t limited to hawk watching. Along the way, a woolly bear caterpillar was discovered, and a flock of fish crows was seen flying overhead.

Migration Fest took on a similar tune, presenting multiple exhibits meant to further learning about the natural world as a whole.

Jacob Acevedo, 13, and his sister Paige, 11, helped man one of those exhibits — a table consisting of live snakes and a turtle. Throughout the morning, Jacob stood with a black rat snake wrapped around his body and Paige with a corn snake snuggled in her sweatshirt. The two’s courage made the often-intimidating creatures more approachable, giving others the courage to interact with the reptiles.

“It’s just fun to have them around,” Jacob said. “They’re really cool to learn about.”

Growing up, the two were raised surrounded in nature, and specifically reptiles, their mother, Sherry Acevedo, said. Acevedo used to work with the nature center when she ran the Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape initiative. Now Acevedo works as the executive director at the Stroud Region Open Space and Recreation Commission. But the family still spends time volunteering at the center.

“This is a place that has been special to our hearts, not only through my career and working, but also personally,” Acevedo said.

“I grew up around the outdoors,” she said. “It was just something that was always ingrained in me, and it was ingrained in them.”

“When (Jacob and Paige) were in my belly, they were out and about, hiking on the trails, hiking on the mountain.”

Jacob in particular has been handling reptiles since he was 18 months old. When he grows up, he said he’d like to be a herpetologist — someone who studies reptiles and amphibians.

As morning slowly turned to afternoon, the center became increasingly packed with families in anticipation for the insect safari and monarch butterfly tagging. Little Cordelia Bombico even wore her butterfly dress for the occasion.

When speaking of the role events like Migration Fest have in their community, LGNC program specialist Chad Schwartz said they’re meant “to get people excited about nature.”

“In order to get people to care about protecting nature, you need to get them to love nature, and the best time to start that is with kids who are young” Schwartz said.

“You want to get people comfortable with things because you kind of learn to be afraid of things like snakes and spiders and things as you get older. But if you can get kids comfortable with those things at an early age they’ll learn to appreciate them and then they’ll want to protect them.”

“Conservation through education is our goal here,” he concluded.