The Beauty Around Us

By Linda G. on September 19, 2009

I spent 6 hours (10:00AM-4:00PM) this past Wednesday with my friend Lynn B. We went on a nature walk at the Audubon Center and Sanctuary in Jamestown, NY.

The Audubon Center includes over 5 miles of well-maintained trails: the Blue Trail, the Orange Trail and the Yellow Trail. Our nature walk took us on all three trails. We walked well over 2 miles!

We began our walk on the Orange trail. The Orange trail makes a big loop around Spatterdock Pond, which is the Audubon Center’s second-largest pond. Within a couple minutes of starting our walk we saw a deer! It crossed right in front of us. Neither of us captured a photograph of the deer, though, as we hadn’t yet removed the lens cap from our cameras! We stopped at a photo blind that looks across Spatterdock Pond. The blind had cut-out holes of varying heights, allowing small, regular and tall people a comfortable place from which to view.

Spatterdock Pond Photo Blind

After leaving the photo blind, we crossed a boardwalk into a wooded area.

Boardwalk trail

Lynn on the boardwalk

We saw this lily pad as we crossed over the boardwalk.

Somewhere along the way we got off the Orange trail and started following the Yellow trail. The Yellow trail leads all the way around Big Pond, which is the Audubon Center’s largest pond. There are two photo blinds and a tower that overlook Big Pond. We passed by the first photo blind because the bugs were bothering us so much that we were hurrying back to the car.

Lynn wore the hat and jacket in an attempt to keep the bugs at bay. Note in this photograph that the hood of Lynn’s jacket is up. Lynn’s attire didn’t help. The bugs were bad!

We did apply bug spray before beginning our walk. Apparently the effectiveness of the bug spray diminishes with time. Next time we will carry the bug spray with us.

We made our way to the parking lot. After reapplying bug spray we followed the Blue trail to the photo blind nearest the nature center. This photo blind is the second blind that overlooks Big Pond. We stayed at this blind quite a while, snapping pictures of geese and blue herons. The photographs didn’t turn out, as the geese and blue herons were too far out on the pond.

Tower

Some geese took off, while at the tower.

A visit to the Audubon Center would not be complete without a stop to see an eagle named Liberty.

Liberty

 

Lynn and I enjoyed our day immensely. I hope we make a return trip. Lynn suggested bringing picnic lunches next time. I think that is a good idea!