Viewing Mars & Nature

Walk At Audubon Center

SOUTHBURY — For its first programs of September, The Audubon Center at Bent of the River will offer programs that offer leisure walks and an opportunity to view the red planet.

An Adult Nature Walk will be hosted by the center on Wednesday, September 3, beginning at 9 am. Participants will join one of the center’s naturalists for a leisurely hike one of the sanctuary trails. Highlights of the walk include the sunny meadows that are full of wildflowers and moist shaded woodlands to look for mushrooms and ferns.

Birds are beginning to migrate so bring binoculars if possible.

Participants should meet at the Welcome Kiosk near the parking lot off East Flat Hill Road. Suggested donation for the program is $5.

Then on Wednesday, September 9, the center will host “View the Planet Mars,” a special program to view the red planet beginning at 8 pm.

Mars will have its closest opposition to Earth in 73,000 years in early September, giving observers a spectacular view of its red color. Surface features such as polar caps and light/dark splotches should be visible even in a small telescope.

Join Patrick Comins, Audubon Connecticut’s Director of Bird Conservation and an amateur astronomer, for a guided look at this and other fascinating features of the late summer sky. In case of cloud cover, the program will be held on Monday, September 8.

Suggested donation is $5.

The Audubon Center is at 185 East Flat Hill Road, in the South Britain section of Southbury. The trails of the center are open to visitors every day from dawn to dusk. For more information call 264-5098 during business hours.