Monthly Nature Walks in 2015

Jul 21, 2015 by Stephanie

We have monthly nature walks (or volunteer days) in Glen Providence Park, year-round! We’ve documented our Winter Bird Walk in January and Spring Cleanups in March and April – here we recount our other  2015 Nature Walks through July, including a photo gallery. Make sure to join us for some of our upcoming 2015 events – they are always free and open to the public!

February – Winter Nature & History Walk

Our 80th Anniversary History & Nature Walk may have been our coldest walk yet – in the teens with a cold wind! But we had a wonderful (intrepid!) group, and Marcia Tate and I had great time sharing information about the park. Attendees included a first-time visitor to the park, and a man who had not visited in 25 years. The snow started falling as we were finishing.

May – Spring Nature Walk

Led by Gary Stolz, we saw 28 species of birds including a Solitary Sandpiper(!), 4 species of turtles, a bullfrog, and a (likely pregnant!) Garter Snake, on a lovely spring morning! Many native plants were in bloom including Silverbell, Flowering Dogwood, Redbud, and Black Cherry trees; Trout Lilies, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, yellow violets, and even Trillium! Seventeen people joined our walk, which was part of Transition Town Media’s Happiness Week.

June – Tree Walk

It was a beautiful summer afternoon for a fun and educational tree walk, led by David Hewitt! A wealth of information, David fielded dozens of questions about trees and their identification, as at least 22 adults and children also explored some of the park’s springs, the pond life, damselflies and more. We saw Bluegill (fish) nests in the pond, flying ants emerging from a tree stump, learned how to tell American Sycamores from London Plane Trees, and so much more about trees!

July – Herpetology Walk

Twelve adults and 8 eagle-eyed kids had a delightful (early!) morning learning about and looking for reptiles and amphibians with Kyle Loucks! We found American Toads, Green Frogs, Bullfrogs, Dusky and Red-backed Salamanders, and Snapping and Painted Turtles – along with an amazing variety of fungi. We were able to safely pass the amphibians around for a closer look, before gently returning them to their habitat, in a clean plastic container – any lotion, soap, and even oil on our skin can harm them.

Thank you to everyone who attended these park events, and to our wonderful volunteer walk leaders! You can see photos in our gallery below – click on any photo for a closer look.