As metro Atlanta gobbles up more land each day, public green spaces are becoming more crucial for making the region livable.
For one thing — and perhaps most important — green spaces help relieve the mental stress of urban living. For many of us, watching birds and butterflies flit about in shady woods or turtles bask in a peaceful pond has a soothing effect on our psyches.
Atlanta's green spaces also serve as great outdoor classrooms and as sanctuaries for families wanting to experience the wonders of nature close to home.
One such place is W.H. Reynolds Memorial Nature Preserve in Morrow in Clayton County, which I visited last weekend. Its 146 acres encompass deciduous forest, wetlands and ponds fed by natural springs. The preserve's more than three miles of hiking trails take visitors across the highest ridges in the county.
I walked the trails with Anne McCallum, who is on the preserve's board of directors and is a fellow member of the Atlanta Audubon Society. She and I were there mostly to do some bird watching, although birding is a little difficult this time of year because the dense summer foliage hides the birds.
Nevertheless, an Acadian flycatcher landed on a small limb only a few feet above us; Anne and I agreed that it was the best view we've ever had of the little insect-eating songbird. We watched again as it hovered — a characteristic for which Acadian flycatchers are known — to snatch a bug from a leaf.
From a pier extending into a placid 3-acre pond, we spied a belted kingfisher sitting in a tree at the water's edge. In the water below us, minnows and red eared slider turtles swam about. From the woods came a loud rat-a-tat-tat, which we surmised could come only from a pileated woodpecker, Georgia's largest woodpecker.
Bright red male cardinals seemed to be everywhere. "We take cardinals for granted, but we would go a long way to see them if they weren't here," Anne said. In the preserve's small heritage garden, blue jays, mockingbirds and robins vied for ripening blueberries.
As we strolled the trails, Anne — who has been coming here for years with family and friends — and I talked about the value and great need for these kinds of nature preserves. Memories are made in places like this, she said. Like the time a few years ago when she and a friend were walking in the preserve and watched a large female snapping turtle crawl out of a stream, dig a hole in the ground and lay eggs in it. "It's one of those moments when you're in the right place at the right time," Anne said.
In the sky: The moon will be full July 3 — the "buck moon," as July's full moon is known because it's when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. Mercury is low in the west just after dark, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Venus is low in the east just before sunrise. Mars is high in the west just after dark and sets in the west around midnight. Jupiter is low in the east just before sunrise. Saturn is high in the west at dark and sets after midnight.
IF YOU GO
W.H. Reynolds Memorial Nature Preserve. A 146-acre nature preserve, donated in 1976 by the late Judge William "Bill" Huie Reynolds. Land preserved in its natural state. More than 3 miles of hiking trails. Also contains small heritage garden, barn dating back to 1867 and old farm equipment. Interpretive center has displays of live snakes, environmental exhibits and other features. Preserve open daily 8 a.m. to dusk. Interpretive center open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays- Fridays. Free. 5665 Reynolds Road, Morrow, GA 30260. 770-603-4188, www.reynoldsnaturepreserve.org.
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