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Visitors are welcome to enjoy our preserves and the diverse natural communities they support. However, please be sure to respect the property and privacy of our neighbors as well as other visitors. Please do not litter. And be mindful of parking regulations, especially where there is no or very limited on-site parking, such as at the Safford Nature Preserve and Lower Huntington Gorge.
Safford Nature Preserve
- Wild strawberries ripening
- Warbler migration at its peak; check treetops at dawn and dusk
- Praying mantis start hatching
Lower Huntington Gorge
- Lady slippers bloom (please avoid picking this scarce Vermont orchid)
- Spotted sandpipers along the gravel bank
Rivershore Preserve
- Gray tree frogs start to sing
- First fireflies for your evening walks
- Swallows nesting in opposite bank
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Safford Nature Preserve
- Shadbush fruits ripen, and the birds & bears chow down
- Female grouse feign injury to lure you from their young
Lower Huntington Gorge
- Trout beat the heat in shaded pools
- Dragonflies cruise the streambank
- Basswood trees in fragrant bloom (ask any bee)
Rivershore Preserve
- Osprey chicks start flying lessons; will head for Central America in September
- Bobolinks, increasingly scarce in New England, sing their names in neighboring fields
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Safford Nature Preserve
- Queen Anne's lace now in full flower; some varieties feature a lone purple floret at the center
Lower Huntington Gorge
- Brown bats feeding at dusk
- Wild grapes ripening along the riverbank
Rivershore Preserve
- Painted turtle eggs hatch
- Joe Pye weed in crimson bloom; named after Native American "yarb" (herb) man of late-1700s New England
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Safford Nature Preserve
- Check out the colors on the huge sugar maples – remnants of an old syrup operation here
- Bears fattening up on beechnuts and butternuts for the long winter nap – some will consume 20,000 calories a day
Lower Huntington Gorge
- Look for clintonia berries, one of the few true blues found in the local wilds
- Jays gathering acorns, burying (and losing) many far away and helping restore oaks to local forests
Rivershore Preserve
- Cool weather revitalizes the bass and trout – cast a line!
- Tell the temperature by cricket chirps – divide the number you hear in a minute by four, and add 40
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Safford Nature Preserve
- Wear orange and be careful -- you could be sharing the preserve with hunters
- Flowers in December? Watch for the witch hazel's yellow blossoms, which come out after its leaves fall (and curl and unfurl with the changing temperature)
Lower Huntington Gorge
- Inside those chickadees you see hopping about is a heart beating 11 times a second
- Look for bobcat tracks in the snow where the animals come down from the ledges to drink at the river's edge
Rivershore Preserve
- Keep an eye out for the otters recently spotted fishing just upstream from the preserve, by the new bridge
- Get up early to see hoarfrost crystals coating the milkweed pods and berry brambles
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Note: Watch this page for additions and updates throughout the year
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