Tree House Trail Interpretive Site
Exhibits along the Tree House Trail immerse visitors in the sights, sounds, and fragrances of the forest. View tubes direct the eye to “oddities” of nature...small wonders of the natural world often overlooked. Listening stations bring the sounds of the forest close by. A special bird exhibit allows visitors to hear the call of birds common to Arbor Day Farm and then offers an opportunity to imitate the call and hear the attempt through a recorded playback system.
$8,000 plus $8,000 in local matching funds.
Arbor Day Farm was once the agricultural estate of Arbor Day founder J. Sterling Morton. Along with many of the original barns, buildings, and orchards, the farm now includes a working apple processing operation, and is home to over 170 species of birds, white-tailed deer, bobcat, raccoon, opossum, muskrat, mink, red fox, and numerous other mammals.
Birding the Arbor Day Farm Tree House Trail
The National Arbor Day Foundation is famous for helping people plant trees, and birds are now part of their program, thanks to a $16,000 grant from the Pathways To Nature® Conservation Fund. The newly opened Tree House Trail, part of the Arbor Day Farm’s Tree Adventure, offers visitors some truly unique opportunities to experience birds.
At the Bird Call Mimic Station, for example, you can not only push buttons to hear songs and calls of birds found in the woodland, but also hold another button that allows you to try and imitate the calls. It’s a great way to help make the calls stick in your mind, and see how you stack up against the real thing!
Further down the Trail, stop at the Bird Listening Station. Here, you can use specially designed devices that help amplify and focus sounds coming from the woods. All along the Trail, educational signs offer information about the importance of trees and habitat to birds.
The highlight for birders may well be the Canopy Tree House, nestled 50’ up in the canopy of the oak/hickory forest. This bird’s eye view offers a completely new perspective on the forest and also chance to see tree-top birds in their natural setting, without straining your neck!
For more information and virtual tour, visit: www.arbordayfarm.org.
The Pathways To Nature Conservation Fund is a partnership between Wild Birds Unlimited stores and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund environmental education and wildlife viewing projects. We encourage all of our customers to visit these incredible places. Your patronage helped make these projects possible!
