A few days ago I visited the Sams Lake Bird Sanctuary. It is finally completed!
The land was donated to the Southern Conservation Land Trust by the Sams family. The City of Atlanta was involved in this project to mitigate construction of the new runway at Hartsfield Airport. It seems like a lot of money was spent and it took a long time. The project was started in 2004 but a series of tropical storms washed it out -- literally. I am glad the space is here and it is so close to me.
I do have to admit that I am a little disappointed. After visiting the wetlands center in Clayton County – I had hoped that this space would be similar to that. A looping pathway would have made all the difference. Five million dollars was spent to get a half-mile mulch path, a few bat houses, a couple observation decks, and a gravel parking lot. Most of the lay of the land was not changed (from what I can see) – perhaps the pond areas were sculpted a little and some large rocks were placed to create the low-level dams to create pool areas across the property. From what I understand there will be more trees planted later this year – willows.
But – hey – why should I complain? It is a nice spot to go take photos and it is so darn close to me it makes it very easy!
I have been there before – after the last attempt at “building” the wetlands. I have seen egrets and hawks. The place was fine before anyone did anything. I think the developers realized that and changed their plans to fall in line with what nature was doing on its own.
Last week I watched a blue heron fly by. The big activity seemed to be butterflies and some frogs. About this time last year, there were pink masses of blooming meadow beauty there. I don’t see them now. It may be a little bit early. There is some goldenrod around. I saw a notice that there was a bird watching activity there this morning. I do hope there are events there to draw people to find it.
The sanctuary is located on Old Senoia Road in Fayetteville, between Harp and Redwine. If you turn onto Old Senoia near the rec. department ball fields (on Redwine) you will drive to the three-way stop at Hawn Road and continue through it. On your left, just past a couple homes you see a gravel drive -- skip this one (the gate there is always locked) and take the second gravel entrance. You have found it! It is open from dawn to dusk daily and there is no fee. If you do go there – and like it a lot – you might consider making a donation to The Southern Conservation Land Trust.
Of course I took some photos. I have been playing around with a new bit of software – a blog on it will come soon. The photo on the blog was taken in color and then manipulated with the software to give it an aged appearance. This is one of the bat boxes at Sams Lake. The photo was taken with one of my ancient Nikon lenses using the converter ring to adapt the lens to my new Canon camera.
The land was donated to the Southern Conservation Land Trust by the Sams family. The City of Atlanta was involved in this project to mitigate construction of the new runway at Hartsfield Airport. It seems like a lot of money was spent and it took a long time. The project was started in 2004 but a series of tropical storms washed it out -- literally. I am glad the space is here and it is so close to me.
I do have to admit that I am a little disappointed. After visiting the wetlands center in Clayton County – I had hoped that this space would be similar to that. A looping pathway would have made all the difference. Five million dollars was spent to get a half-mile mulch path, a few bat houses, a couple observation decks, and a gravel parking lot. Most of the lay of the land was not changed (from what I can see) – perhaps the pond areas were sculpted a little and some large rocks were placed to create the low-level dams to create pool areas across the property. From what I understand there will be more trees planted later this year – willows.
But – hey – why should I complain? It is a nice spot to go take photos and it is so darn close to me it makes it very easy!
I have been there before – after the last attempt at “building” the wetlands. I have seen egrets and hawks. The place was fine before anyone did anything. I think the developers realized that and changed their plans to fall in line with what nature was doing on its own.
Last week I watched a blue heron fly by. The big activity seemed to be butterflies and some frogs. About this time last year, there were pink masses of blooming meadow beauty there. I don’t see them now. It may be a little bit early. There is some goldenrod around. I saw a notice that there was a bird watching activity there this morning. I do hope there are events there to draw people to find it.
The sanctuary is located on Old Senoia Road in Fayetteville, between Harp and Redwine. If you turn onto Old Senoia near the rec. department ball fields (on Redwine) you will drive to the three-way stop at Hawn Road and continue through it. On your left, just past a couple homes you see a gravel drive -- skip this one (the gate there is always locked) and take the second gravel entrance. You have found it! It is open from dawn to dusk daily and there is no fee. If you do go there – and like it a lot – you might consider making a donation to The Southern Conservation Land Trust.
Of course I took some photos. I have been playing around with a new bit of software – a blog on it will come soon. The photo on the blog was taken in color and then manipulated with the software to give it an aged appearance. This is one of the bat boxes at Sams Lake. The photo was taken with one of my ancient Nikon lenses using the converter ring to adapt the lens to my new Canon camera.
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