Beaver Meadow Audubon Center

Visited May 15, 2021

1610 Welch Road, North Java, NY 14113 (Wyoming County)

Google maps brought me to the gravel lot within view of the center. There was an information kiosk with trail maps available and there was a porta potty available.

64-66 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, slight breeze

The visitor center is currently not open until further notice but the trails on this 324-acre nature preserve are open from sunrise to sunset every day.

Dogs are not welcome at this facility. Wesley visited Grandmama while I visited these trails.

No gnats or mosquitos were bothersome today.

No cost to access these trails.

Parking for 20+ vehicles. The parking area is gravel. When I arrived at 11:00 AM on a May Saturday, there were five cars.

This site has been on my “would like to visit” list for over a decade. Usually when we are out in this neck of the woods, we visit my family or we keep on going toward Darien Lake (½ hour away) and Genesee Country Village (1 hour away) so it was quite a thrill just to plan this visit. Now that I have been, I look forward to returning again! If you have someone who wants to learn about nature, nature centers and nature trails are the place to go. There are signs and labels everywhere for people who want to learn.

I would budget at least 1 1/2 hours minimum if you want to explore the trails and have time to sit and watch the birds. The trails are some of the nicest, dry, well-drained trails I have been on this year. I hiked less than three miles and there are plenty more trails to explore next time. Now that I have been reminded how much I love nature trails, I hope to return when the nature center is open.

During warmer weather, shorts would be sufficient here. There were no steep inclines or difficult terrain. I would consider these to be “easy” trails. These are the same difficulty as the Lake Erie State Park trails. I really enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere here. There were other people in the park but I did not pass anyone while on the trails. There is a neat cabin that appears to be available to rent. I have not included a photo because people were coming out of the door when I was in the area.

After passing the bird feeder area behind the center, I took Chipmunk Run down to the dock and then further to its end to view the beaver pond. I did not see a beaver but I do not think midday is the best time to see them. As a child, my parents took me to see beavers at dusk and we enjoyed watching them slap their tails to sound the alarm if we were not quiet enough to evade their notice. I did startle a number of chipmunks on this aptly named trail. There was a bench for having a sit down while observing the beaver pond.

I returned to the parking area and the solar panels via Homestead Trail. Near the driveway is a screened Trailside Museum. This building provides the opportunity to see bird nests, beaver-chewed logs, burls, and other fascinating natural items up close.

Across the road from parking is Kettle Pond Trail. This takes you to a special kind of pond called a kettle pond. Kettle ponds are pretty cool because they were formed when the last ice glaciers were melting. I saw two really big snapping turtles and a snake (thankfully, NOT really big) while on this trail. There are benches for enjoying a rest while observing the kettle pond.

Today I saw chipmunks, a white tail deer, snapping turtles, a male cardinal, Canada geese, robins and red-winged blackbirds. There are pines, hemlock, maples, cherry, hophornbeam (glad this one had a tag because otherwise I would not have known, and other varieties of trees. On Chipmunk Run is a fern garden and each fern type has little signs.

The park has bathroom facilities when the center is open.

The trails at Beaver Meadow are part of the WNY Summer Hiking Challenge. I joined the Summer 2021 challenge. https://outsidechronicles.com/challenge

Across the road from the center when you are on Kettle Pond Trail, you may be able to find a geocache. To learn more about geocaching, visit www.geocaching.com.

For those of you who want to come back after dark when the facilities are again available on the first Saturday of the month, April through October, there is an observatory on site:

https://www.buffaloastronomy.com/about/observatory/

To learn more about the center and to find maps of the trails:

https://www.buffaloaudubon.org/beaver-meadow-audubon-center.html

Beaver Meadow is part of the Buffalo Audubon Society:

https://www.buffaloaudubon.org/

Nearby:

Griffon Brewery and Gastropub (20 min. away)

634 Main Street, East Aurora, NY 14052

https://www.griffongastropub.com/

A vast array of microbrews and yummy food.

Chandersons (20 minutes away)

11851 Route 16, Yorkshire, NY 14173