Wild Birds Unlimited store owners Dave and Lorraine Treacy '81 at the Lab of Ornithology.

The Treacys in the Lab’s visitor center; behind them are the feeders featured in a popular livestream video (seen on the TV screen), part of the Lab’s feeder cams network. (Noël Heaney / Cornell University)

Couple Flocks Together—Running the Lab of Ornithology’s Gift Shop

Lorraine DeLorenzo Treacy ’81 and Dave Treacy ’81, MEng ’82, returned to the Hill as Wild Birds Unlimited franchisees

“Bear Hugs” celebrates heartwarming stories of Cornellians on the Hill and around the world. Have an idea? Email us at cornellians@cornell.edu!

By Melissa Newcomb

From the trails meandering through Sapsucker Woods to the sweeping mural depicting every avian family to the bustling scene at the feeder garden, the Lab of Ornithology has long been a favorite destination for bird lovers and nature enthusiasts alike.

And like many sites that welcome visitors, the Lab has a gift shop—in this case, an outpost of Wild Birds Unlimited, the popular chain that carries high-quality feeders, seed, binoculars, birding guides, and more.

The entrance of the Wild Birds Unlimited store at the Lab of Ornithology.
The shop got a glow-up during the visitor center’s recent redesign.

Since June 2024, that store hasn’t just been located at an iconic Cornell location—it’s been owned by an alumni couple, Lorraine DeLorenzo Treacy ’81 and Dave Treacy ’81, MEng ’82.

“Visitors come to the Lab, and they’re excited,” says Dave, who majored in mechanical engineering on the Hill.

“They do the bird walks, see the Discovery Lab, go to the media center—and then what do they do?”

Lorraine Treacy '81 hangs up a birdfeeder in the Wildbirds Unlimited Store at the Lab of Ornithology.
Lorraine with some of the store’s many feeders.

For many, the answer is a stop at the shop, located in the visitor center—across the lobby from the vast windows that overlook Sapsucker Pond, teeming with plant life and waterfowl.

In addition to top-of-the-line supplies for bird aficionados, the store carries the usual mementos like T-shirts, hats, water bottles, and coffee mugs with the Lab’s logo.

Among the many avian-themed items on offer: puzzles, jewelry, home décor, and stuffed animals—including ones that, when squeezed, play a scientifically accurate song (supplied by the Lab’s Macaulay Library, the world’s largest archive of natural sounds and video).

Observes Dave: “Our little store lets you manifest your interest and excitement past your trip.”

A stuffed animal of a bird at the Wild Birds Unlimited store.
A pileated (and cuddly) woodpecker stuffy.

While the Lab has long housed a Wild Birds Unlimited, the shop—which previously experienced closures due to COVID—had shuttered in 2023 when the visitor center underwent a redesign that included adding new hands-on exhibits.

When the Treacys bought the franchise, they were already experienced owners: they’d taken over a Wild Birds Unlimited store in nearby Elmira two years earlier, after seeing a note that it was going out of business while on an errand to buy birdseed.

Our little store lets you manifest your interest and excitement past your trip.

Dave Treacy ’81, MEng ’82

Recently retired from long careers at the materials firm Corning Inc., they jumped at the chance to run the shop at Cornell.

It was, after all, the place that had brought them together: the couple met in their North Campus dorm as freshmen and dated for five years before marrying in Anabel Taylor Chapel.

Dave and Lorraine Treacy at 1981 graduationProvided
The couple at their Commencement in 1981.

“When we were in school, the Lab of Ornithology was a much smaller facility,” notes Lorraine, a former chemical engineering major.

“It’s fun to return to where we’d been so many years ago and see how it has changed. It’s a full-circle moment.”

Top: The Treacys in the Lab’s visitor center; behind them are the feeders featured in a popular livestream video (seen on the TV screen), part of the Lab’s feeder cams network. (All photos by Noël Heaney / Cornell University, unless otherwise indicted.)

Published October 24, 2024

Comments

  1. Randolph (Randy) Little, Class of 1962
    3 Nov, 2024

    So nice to read the back-story of the Treacys’ enterprise. And, if you haven’t visited the redesigned visitor center at the Lab of O, you are missing a spectacular treat. The Adelson Learning Center is a prime example of hands-on learning assisted by the latest technology. It is worth a special trip to Ithaca just to enjoy the Lab.

    Reply

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