Come to the park the weekend of June 7 & 8 and particpate in Connecticut Trails Day 

June 7 – CT Trails Day

• 8:30am – 10:30am Kayak survey of the salt marsh to find diamondback Terrapins

  • Paddling is the best way to explore the salt marsh. Join us to count Diamondback Terrapins with Maggie Cozens, CT Sea Grant outreach coordinator, and document birds using iNaturalist. Bring your own kayak, canoe, or other paddlecraft, as well as a life vest and whistle/horn, required by CT state boating regulations. It’s a long carry over the beach, so bring a kayak cart if you have one. We will help each other. Your leader is a retired Coastal Kayak Instructor with twenty years teaching experience. Optional: Bring waterproof binoculars for spotting birds, and/or a waterproof camera.

• 12:00 pm (noon) Butterfly Walk – meet at the Nature Center.

  • Join butterfly hobbyist Michele Sorensen to explore the gardens and natural areas around the Park’s Nature Center in search of caterpillars, skippers, moths and butterflies. We may see Mourning Cloak, Pearl Crescent, Question Mark, Monarch, Cabbage White, Orange or Clouded Sulphurs, tiny Gray Hairstreaks & Blues, and Black or Tiger Swallowtails. Michele leads the Friends’ Garden Team, which has installed hundreds of native plants to attract butterflies and birds.

    Bring binoculars and a camera or smartphone. You’ll learn how to report your findings on iNaturalist so scientists anywhere can see how these insects are doing. Children are welcome.

June 8 – CT Trails day

• 1:00pm Archeological Walk – A walk through Historical & Archaelogical time

  • Join us for a family friendly, educational walk on the Sherwood Island History Trail led by Archaeologists Dawn Brown and Ernie Wiegand. Travel through time starting at the Ice Age when LI sound was formed. You’ll see points of historic interest and examine the traces of past inhabitants of Sherwood Island, from Native Americans in 1000 B.C. to onion farmers of the 1940s. Artifacts, maps, old photos, and recent recoveries will be used to bring the island’s past inhabitants to life.

• 3:30pm Beach to Beach Walk

  • Discover Sherwood Island with Louis Pietig! Go beach to beach and discover habitats, inhabitants, and special features – 9/11 Memorial, Model Airport, wetlands, pine forest – of this waterfront Gateway park. We’ll start at the Nature Center and end at the Pavilion.

Registration is suggested/required for each CT Trails day event. Please use Trailsday.org or the links shown below.

https://trailsday.org/events/kayak-paddle-survey-terrapins-and-birds-in-the-marsh/

https://trailsday.org/events/island-butterfly-walk/

https://trailsday.org/events/a-walk-through-historical-and-archeological-time/

https://trailsday.org/events/beach-to-beach-an-island-walk-for-friends-and-families/