mammals

Farm Day at Chattahoochee Nature Center!

We received a lovely invitation to go to the Chattahoochee Nature Center recently and luck would have it that we were able to go to their Farm Day! Man, were we excited! We’d never been to the Chattahoochee Nature Center before! We arrived early in the afternoon and we weren’t alone, the center was jamming! After meeting our new friend Rebecca who invited us we went to check out the main building!

They have a lovely display all about fresh water systems! Know why? Well, the center is located on the Chattahoochee River just north of Atlanta! The Chattahoochee River and surrounding area is home to loads of amazing animals, including turtles, owls, snakes, catfish and beavers! The center has a great area where you can not only learn about some of these animals, you can see them!

One turtle was hanging on the log and one was trying to get up there!

Owl!

One of favorite things in this area was the animals made of junk! Yep, they had an otter made from a dust buster & a beaver made of clothespins! FUN!

Heron made of parts!

An otter made from a hand held vac! So cute!

Beaver made out of clothespins! FUN!

As we headed outside we found an alligator snapping turtle that you can touch, don’t worry he wasn’t real. We’re adventurous, but not insane :)!

Here we are with the snapping turtle! Look the sign says you can touch!

We were excited to meet the farm animals that were at the center that day, so we waited in a line for our turn.  While we waited, one of the center’s naturalist introduced us to a red shoulder hawk!

Red Shoulder Hawk! He was sooo pretty!

These birds are native to Georgia and came to the center because someone had taken him when he was little to be a pet. Trust us when we say hawks are not pets, they belong in the wild. It is also illegal in the state of Georgia to take a native animal from the wild.

Whew, when we finally made it to the front of the line we made sure we read the rules!

Farmer Sue's rules!

The animals for Farm Day had come from The Art Barn, a working farm not too far from the center! It’s run by Farmer Sue!

Farmer Sue with a duckling!

They had ducks, chickens, giant rabbits, a goat and a sheep! We loved the giant rabbits Godiva and Butterscotch!

Here we are with Butterscotch the Bunny! HE WAS HUGE!

The black sheep was super cute too, he just kept eating grass- our favorite! We wanted to join him for a browse but it was bit crowded!

A very hungry and wooly sheep!

There was a miniature horse too, but we were unable to get a good picture of his face and we figure you guys wouldn’t like rump pictures :)!

We decided to walk around the rest of the center’s grounds. They had lemonade and arts and crafts and loads of nature trails to explore. We found this excellent hollow tree stump that you can play in!

Cool isn't it?

As we strolled around we found out that the center has a bunch of aviaries with native birds. Can you say Bald Eagles? Yep, they have two of them and man, are they beautiful. Unfortunately they were up so high that we couldn’t get a good picture; so you’ll just have to go for yourself and see them! We also spotted barn and barred owls, turkey and black vultures in the aviaries.

They also have a lovely area for a beaver. We got a great shot of him and man was he sleeeepy!

One very sleepy beaver!

Trust us, he was breathing.

The grounds of the center are so beautiful! We saw all kinds of trees and flowers in bloom! One of our favorites is the dogwood. We wonder where the dogwood got its name, it doesn’t bark! Haha!

Dogwood blossoms are so pretty

We decided to chill for a bit by the river, it was so peaceful.

We decide to take a break!

We made our way back just in time for another animal encounter! This time the naturalist brought out a Virginia Opossum (and yes you pronounce the O)!

Time to meet an Opossum!

This little one was only about 8 months old.  Did you know that the Virginia Opossum is the only marsupial in North America? They are just so cool!  You can learn more about opossums here.

We were pretty tired from all the excitement and decided to head home. We did stop by the membership booth to learn about becoming members.

Become a member!

As we left, we saw that they had fun imprints on the sidewalk just outside the front door! We liked the kingfisher one! The center’s summer camp is called Camp Kingfisher! We wonder if they let elephants and horses come?

We loved the sidewalk imprints!

There’s so much to see and do at the Chattahoochee Nature Center! It’s a great place to learn and explore. Check out their website, they have loads of fun events coming up! Bring a picnic lunch and spend the day at this special place!

Thanks for the great afternoon!