Sharon Audubon Center

Route 4, Sharon, Litchfield, CT

758 acres

Source: Laubach and Smith, #4

Directions:

Start is the town of Sharon at the gray granite clock tower. This is the intersection of Routes 4, 41, and 343. Drive 2.35 miles on Route 4 south and turn right into the center; bear right for the parking area.

Habitats:

ponds, streams, swamp, marsh, woodlands

Entrance Fees:

Non-members of Audubon pay an entrance fee.

Facilities:

The main building has natural science exhibits and a gift and book shop. Also here is an herb garden, a windflower garden, and a butterfly and hummingbird garden. There is also a wildlife rehabilitation center.

Trails:

This is a circular, or rather elliptical walk that is oriented northwest-southeast and passes by two ponds, Ford and Bog Meadow Ponds. From the parking lot cross over Herrick Brook and then take the trail heading southeast to Ford Pond. The Fern Trail follows the border of Ford Pond and later takes a horse-shoe bend turn and reaches the shores of Bog Meadow Pond. The trail heads north away from the western side of Bog Meadow Pond and then the Hazelnut Trail goes west and then onto the Ford Trail heading northwest. The trail makes a wide horseshoe turn to finally starts the final leg of the trip via the Deer Trail, which takes the hiker back to the parking lot.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, 4/12/02
dates below indicate plants found in bloom

Trees:
Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple) 4/12/02
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Aesculus hippocastanum (horse chestnut)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula papyrifera (white birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Castanea dentata (American chestnut)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Pinus sp. (pine)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Populus grandidentata (big-toothed aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Thuja occidentalis (arbor-vitae) planted
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (spotted wintergreen)
Comptonia peregrina (sweetfern)
Cornus sp. (swamp or red osier dogwood or both)
Corylus cornuta (beaked hazelnut) 4/12/02
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Gaultheria procumbens (checkerberry)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle) lots
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Pachysandra terminalis (pachysandra)
Rhododendron sp. (mountain azalea shrubs)
Rhus sp. (sumac)
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rubus hispidus (swamp dewberry)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Spiraea alba var. latifolia (meadowsweet)
Spiraea tomentosa (steeplebush)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium sp. (lowbush blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum)
Viburnum (wild raisin viburnum)
Vinca minor (periwinkle) 4/12/02

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Euonymus fortunii (euonymus)
Hedera helix (English ivy)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Aralia nudicaulis (wild sarsaparilla)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack in the pulpit)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry)
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)
Glechoma hederacea (gill-over-the-ground) 4/12/02
Goodyera pubescens (downy rattlesnake plantain)
Hedyotis sp. (bluets) 4/12/02
Hemerocallis vulgaris (tawny day lily)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells) planted or escaped
Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)
Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe)
Myosotis sp. (forget-me-not)
Narcissus sp. (daffodil) 4/12/02 soon; planted or escaped
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose)
Potentilla sp. (cinquefoil)
Pyrola rotundifolia (round-leaved shinleaf)
Rudbeckia hirta var. pulcherrima (black-eyed susan)
Rumex crispus (curled-leaf dock)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad-leaf dock)
Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot) 4/12/02 planted or escaped
Scilla sp. (blue squill)
Senecio aureus (golden ragwort)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Trientalis borealis (starflower)
Trifolium pratense (red clover)
Trillium erectum (red trillium)
Typha angustifolia (narrow-leaved cattail)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Veronica arvensis (corn speedwell)
Uvularia sessilifolia (sessile-leaved bellwort)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora (sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge) 4/12/02
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Scirpus cyperinus (woolly grass bulrush)

Grasses:
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem grass)

Ferns:
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine clubmoss)
Adiantum pedatum (maidenhair fern)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Dryopteris (evergreen wood fern)
Gymnocarpium sp. (oak fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

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