Crow's Nest Preserve

Although not in Berks County, the Crow's Nest Preserve is a mere 2 miles from the entrance to Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. It is a worthy post too.

The main and ample parking area is located off Piersol Road. From there Max and I took the Creek Trail through a field and along the French Creek.

Within minutes I was surrounded by the sounds of nature, especially birds. Jack Holcomb of WEEU-830 radio fame would surely like the opportunity to identify all the unique bird calls I heard.

I presumed that we were the first visitors of the morning for the local creatures were quite reactive when they heard us rustling through the leaves. As we approached the stream, a deer and great blue heron fled immediately. I heard a duck call then I saw a little wood duck scoot around one of the numerous bends in the stream.

The wood duck is my favorite duck. I find it very allusive so what I was about to see was a first and great thrill to me. As we approached the duck the whoosh of wings, not just one pair, but probably a dozen pair of Wood Ducks' wings took flight. They followed the course of the stream and landed upstream out of site. As we walked a group of Mallard ducks abruptly took flight near us. This was a recurring pattern of ducks taking flight as we followed the stream.

Creek trail is well maintained but has low spots that accumulated pools of water due to the heavy rains from Saturday, so Max got a wet belly and my waterproof boots passed the test.

The rest of our journey was through fields with sweeping views of the valleys and hills of French Creek State Park. Leaf color was still prominent along the edges of the woods.

Geographically it reminded me of Warwick County Park, but due to the lack of visitors the fauna seemed quite prevalent. I had a most enjoyable outing and believe this will be a new stop on my circuit of photo walking for there is still another half of the preserve to explore.

Sunny and 50's from 11:30-1:30PM.