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By Christine A. Smyczynski

Today’s blog takes us down to an interesting natural area in Chautauqua County. Panama Rocks is a privately-owned park located about seven miles south of Chautauqua Lake. It is the largest outcropping of glacier-sculpted quartz conglomerate rock in the world.

About 300 million years ago, these rocks were sea islands, part of an ancient river delta. Eventually, thousands of feet of sediment built up over the sea islands and the rock was compressed, forming quartz conglomerate. During the last Ice Age, about 10,000 million years ago, a glacier covered this area; after it melted thousands of crevices and passageways were left.

Panama Rocks got its name from a gentleman who had been across the Isthmus of Panama, who said that these rocks reminded him of rocks in the Central American country. Later, the nearby village was named Panama, after the rocks, since the rocks were here long before the village.

Panama Rocks was first opened as a public park in 1885 by George Hubbard. It was later purchased by D.L. Davis in 1910, who added stairways down into some of the dens and crevices, and a dining hall, where chicken dinners were served on Sunday. During the last century, there were multiple owners who operated the park.

Panama Rocks is made up of a ½ mile ridge of rocks that is about 50 yards wide. A one mile long trail circles the ridge. The lower portion of the trail has more dramatic scenery. It’s also where all the crevices and dens, which are fun to explore, are located. It’s a bit more dangerous to walk on the upper portion, especially if you have young children in tow. As with any rock park, Panama Rocks is not stroller or handicap accessible.

While you could walk the trail in 20 minutes, most people take at least 1 ½ hours or more to explore the park. Visitors are encouraged to venture off the trail to explore and climb the formations. October is a popular time to visit because there are so many different trees, with a lot of different shades of fall foliage.” Some of the Hemlock trees in the park are 200-250 years old; however they grow slowly because of the poor soil.

Panama Rocks 716-782-2845, www.panamarocks.com 11 Rock Hill Rd. (CR 10), PO Box 176, Panama, NY. Open daily 10-5, mid-May to late October; they are open May 14-Oct. 16 in 2011. Admission is $7/adult $6/youth and seniors ages 60+ and $5 ages 6-12.

Take the I-90 to Westfield (EXIT 60). Turn left on NY 394. About 2-3 miles south of Mayville, turn right on County Route 33. Go south to Panama on County Route 33 (10 miles). In Panama you will come to a flashing light. Turn right at the light, onto NY 474 West. Go less than 1/4 mile. Turn left onto Rt. 10 West. Drive up the hill, and turn left at the park entrance.

By Christine A. Smyczynski

If you want to find out more about birds, birding events, and more, check out www.birdstars.org, which is put together by a consortium of leading bird organizations, including the Bird Education Network, Birdzilla, Environment for the Americas, National Bird Feeding Society, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wildlife Refuge System and the Wild Bird Center of America. One can sign up for newsletters and e-bulletins through the Birdstars website.

If you want to learn more about bird habitats, follow the link to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. To learn about bird conservation and education, see the link to the Bird Education Network (BEN), a network of bird education professors. You can also learn about bird conservation though the Environment for the Americas website.

If you enjoy bird watching, follow the link to Birdzilla, which has over 4,000 pages of information about birds. Birdzilla actually just announced a new app, Birds: America’s 50 Most Beautiful, available from the Apple app store. To find out more about feeding birds, the website of the National Bird Feeding Society is a wealth of information.

By Christine A. Smyczynski

The Penn Dixie Paleontological Outdoor Education Center is a 32 acre regional fossil site owned and operated by the Hamburg Natural History Society. It was founded in 1993 to protect the area and promote education about natural resources. The site contains an abundance of 380 million year old fossils from the Devonian era. The public can visit the site to study and collect fossils and learn about local geology.

There are several upcoming events at Penn Dixie that will be of interest to birders. Two spring bird walks are planned. The first takes place on Saturday April 23. Mike Morgante, a member of both the Hamburg Natural History Society and the Buffalo Ornithological Society will lead a walk from 9am-11am. On Sunday May 15, Marilyn O’Connell will lead a second bird walk. She will also discuss wild flowers, vegetation, and other animals found at the site. Both events take place rain or shine and they are free and open to the public.

Another upcoming event is “Birds of Prey in WNY,” on Wednesday April 27th at 7pm. this event will take place off site in the auditorium of the Gateway Executive Offices at 3556 Lakeshore Road, Blasdell. The featured speakers will be Marianne Hites and Judy Seiler, licensed wildlife rehabilitators with Messenger Woods, who will display and speak about various birds of prey, including hawks, falcons, owls, and eagles.

Celebrate Earth Day at Penn Dixie on Saturday April 23 at 9am. The annual Earth Day cleanup and planting of trees will take place. Bring gloves and dress for the weather; garbage bags and rubber gloves will be provided. If you wish, bring along a small tree or shrub as a donation.

Penn Dixie Paleontological Outdoor Education Center, 4050 North Street, Blasdell, 627-4560, www.penndixie.org See website for hours and driving directions.

By Christine A. Smyczynski

The latest craze in home and garden décor is lighted branches. These branches add sparkle to your home, both indoors and out. The uses for them are endless. You can use these branches as part of your holiday decorating or use them all year-long to add a tough of elegance and whimsy. Use them to add a bit of sparkle to your next party.

The branches are flexible, so you can easily tuck them into any vase when you create your own floral displays. You can also add them to an existing display or arrange them on your fireplace mantle. Add them to a wedding floral arrangement to add a touch of romance and create a warm and inviting ambiance.

The branches can also be used outdoors for decoration or additional lighting. Lighted branches also have found a place in the business world, with many stores, offices, restaurants, and other places of business adding them to their décor.

The lighted branches carried by USA Bird Supply are manufactured by New Star, are made for use indoors and out. They come with a UL approved wall adapter.

Sixty warm white LED lights light up 19” tall pussy willow branches, a perfect complement to your spring décor (reg. $19.99, now $16.99). New Star also makes a lighted 5 branch set, which features 30 warm white LED lights on five 40” tall branches made of heavy duty bendable wire accented with bendable twigs. The regular price is $21.99, now on sale for $18.69. They also make a lighted three branch flower set featuring three 36” tall branches that have bendable twigs and lighted blossoms. These regularly retail for $22.99, they are on sale now for $19.54.

By Christine A. Smyczynski

The Rollin T. Grant Gulf Wilderness Park in Lockport is the only full nature preserve on the Niagara Escarpment. The park is named after former Lockport mayor, the late Rollin T. Grant. The deep limestone/sandstone ravine located in this park, which Eighteen Mile Creek flows through, was carved by glacial melt waters from the ancient Lake Tonawanda.

This nature park, located in the northwest corner of the city of Lockport, is an unspoiled wilderness with no amenities, like restrooms or picnic shelters. It’s a carry in carry out park, so the only thing you will leave is footprints. Here you’ll see rock formations, fossils, wildflowers, plants, and wildlife. It is a good place to watch migratory songbirds in May. Resident birds include the Eastern Screech Owl. Four hiking trails can be found in the park.

One of the more interesting features of the park is Indian Falls; a six foot tall waterfall that is best viewed in mid to late spring, when the water flow of Eighteen Mile Creek is at its greatest. Here are a couple links to some beautiful photos of the waterfall.

www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/gulfwildernesspark/interesting/
www.flickr.com/photos/wnywaterfallers/3368668407/

Rollin T. Grant Gulf Wilderness Park, West Jackson Street, Lockport, 716-433-1267, www.nfwhc.org/parks/gulf.htm Open dawn to dusk, free admission.

By Christine A. Smyczynski

This week’s blog is taking us to Irondequoit, an area just north of Rochester. The Helmer Nature Center is a 45 acre nature center operated by the West Irondequoit Central School District. It is an environmental learning class room for students in grades K-12, as well as a nature center for the community and the general public.

Since 1973, this land has been preserved as an environmental study area. The nature center has a varied terrain of woods, meadows, wetlands, and even a pond. There is also a pond boardwalk and observation area. Other features include two miles of hiking trails, which are open dawn to dusk, specialty gardens, a fire circle, two outdoor amphitheaters, a maple sugar pavilion, and two indoor classrooms.

Some of the programs offered to the schools include habitat study, endangered species, pioneer life, and maple sugaring. Annual community events include Christmas tree recycling in January, a trivia contest in February, a maple sugar festival in March, a fall harvest fest in October and trim a tree for wildlife in December.

One of the center’s newer projects is an automatic composting system. It has a clear view side wall, so that students can view the different stages of the composting process.

While you’re in the area you might want to also visit nearby Durand-Eastman Park, a Monroe County park which encompasses almost 1,000 acres along Lake Ontario. The original 484 acres of this park were donated to the county by George Eastman and Henry Durand. The park has an 18-hole golf course, hiking trails, small lakes and ponds, and an arboretum in the northeast section of the park.

Helmer Nature Center, 154 Pinegrove Ave., Irondequoit 585-336-3035

Durand-Eastman Park, along Lake Ontario about 7 miles north of Rochester off I-590, 585-342-9810, www.monroecounty.gov/parks-durandeastman.php

By Christine A. Smyczynski

The other morning I was at the bus stop with my youngest son and was amazed at the variety of birds that were singing. It was a regular symphony of bird songs! I wish I knew more about bird songs, so we could have identified them all.

In doing some research, I discovered that there are a few websites that have bird song recordings that will assist people in identifying birds. The first site you should check out is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. There are about 600 sounds on their online bird guide and thousands more are available from the Cornell Lab’s Macaulay Library. They offer five tips for beginners www.allaboutbirds.org/Page.aspx?pid=1059. Here they are in a nutshell:

1. Watch and listen to birds
2. Learn from fellow birdwatchers
3. Listen to recordings
4. Say the birdsongs to yourself
5. Break the songs down into details

Some other sites that have birdsongs include
Birdsongs –Songs and Calls of New York State Birds
www.math.sunysb.edu/~tony/birds

Birdjam –has a nice written description of songs, along with the audio
www.birdjam.com/learn.php

Nature Songs – has songs and sounds of North American birds
www.naturesongs.com/birds.html

E-Nature- has songs and calls of over 550 North American birds
www.enature.com/birding/audio.asp

If you’re on-the-go, you can invest in a songbird IdentiFlyer, a handy and unique electronic device that plays back bird calls from a speaker.