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See what's happening around Audubon Community Nature Center.
A Pup’s Nose view of the Neighborhood
I try to imagine those purple dots of scent now as I walk and watch Nora’s nose at work. Whose scent does she smell now? Is it a dog? A person? A deer? My neighborhood feels familiar and unfamiliar at the same time as I watch her nose hard at work. There is hidden dimension to the landscape that I can’t see, can’t smell and can’t sense in any way, but which a dog navigates with ease.
I wonder how many other things in life are like that. I never knew what I was missing of the scents in my neighborhood until the puppy showed me. The puppy is already more of an expert on the neighborhood smells than I ever will be, but I can watch that super nose work with great respect. What else is out there that others see and I have no clue about? What do I see that others walk right past? We all bring to the world a unique view that perhaps only we see. We do not know what we do not know until something changes our perspective. What do you notice about the world that most other people miss?
Liberty, Audubon’s Bald Eagle has passed
Liberty, Audubon Community Nature Center’s non-releasable Bald Eagle, passed away on Tuesday, October 25, 2022 after a series of recent health setbacks. Liberty arrived at Audubon in 2002 from the state of Washington, where a local woman discovered her with an...
Smells hold Memories
Smells have always had a way of unlocking memories. Each season has a distinct smell that reminds me of precise points of my childhood. When the smell of damp, falling leaves hits for the first time each year, I remember sitting on my parents’ back porch, in a costume, eagerly waiting for trick-or-treating to begin.
Elusive Animals
Another large part of spotting a specific animal is persistence and the rest of it is up to luck. Some elusive animals are difficult to find because they are small, others are secretive and do their best to hide from humans, and certain species are just uncommon or only live in remote areas without much human impact. You may have to repeatedly go out into the woods to look and listen for a certain bird or search the ground for a specific fungus. If you are looking for a specific organism, you are not always going to see it the first try, or even the second or third. Sometimes you just have to keep trying, see what else you find along the way and wait patiently for the day it appears.
A Gentian Conversation and Conservation
See, adults are funny when you put them in a ‘learning’ setting — they don’t shout out answers to questions like kids, they don’t ask questions when they have them, and they rarely react to the instructor to give them an indication of how the presentation is going (no smiles, laughter, bored looks, fidgeting, etc.). It is hard to teach adults in a class setting, even when that class is in the middle of the field.
But a casual group? They will talk and inquire and exclaim and learn and share their knowledge readily. I got the opportunity to share a wildflower with them, a very cool one, that hopefully they remember a bit about if not its name. I learned how one person cultivates her raised beds in a no-till method to maintain soil health in a side conversation. I heard how one man prepped his plot for wildflowers with mechanical methods, not the herbicide technique.
Oaks and Jays
Blue Jays also eat and store acorns for the winter, but in a way that benefits the potential future tree sprouts too. While a squirrel may bury acorns up to 200 feet away from the tree, a Blue Jay can move the acorn up to a mile away. Blue Jays can also carry up to five acorns at time. They carry one in their mouth, one in the tip of their bill and two or three is a specialized pouch in their throat called a gular pouch. They also store one acorn at a time, often in the ground. Is there any better way to plant a tree?
Address
Audubon Community Nature Center
1600 Riverside Road
Jamestown, NY 14701
(716) 569-2345
info@auduboncnc.org
Hours and Admission
Nature Center Hours:
Monday - Saturday
10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Sunday
1:00 - 4:30 p.m.
Building Admission:
Members - Free
Non-member Adult (ages 16+) - $6
Non-member Child (ages 3 - 15) - $2
Children ages 2 and under - Free
Maximum cost for a Family - $15
Free admission to the Nature Center for SNAP/EBT cardholders.
Free admission for all on Sundays
Grounds and Outdoor Exhibits:
Open daily, year round from dawn to dusk, free of charge
Thank you, Community Partners
Audubon Community Partners make a significant financial contribution each year because they believe that every child deserves the opportunity to have a real and healthy connection to nature.
Bruce and Juline Battler
Carnahan-Jackson Foundation
Chautauqua Region Community Foundation
Donna and Mark Hampton
Holmberg Foundation
Hultquist Foundation
Jessie Smith Darrah Fund
The Lenna Foundation
The Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation
David Campbell
Sue and Bill Chandler
Hal and Mary Conarro
Cummins Jamestown Engine Plant
Bob and Kathy Frucella
Kravitz Tree Service
Thomas Kuntz and Meredith Kuntz
Doug and Lamae McCullor
National Fuel Gas Company
Southern Chautauqua
Federal Credit Union
Weinberg Financial Group
Curt and Susie Westrom
Whirley-DrinkWorks!
Jeanne Wiebenga and Jane Stirniman
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