Masons Mill Park

Elevation: 931 ft.

Masons Mill Park is located less than one mile from East Gate Park, offering similar habitat and wildlife-watching opportunities. This park is slightly smaller that East Gate Park, less heavily wooded, and offers grassier, weedy embankments along the creek. Common yellowthroat can be seen and heard along the creek edges, especially where lined with tall grasses. Urban mallards are in good numbers here, but still allow nesting wood ducks to take residence within these waters. Acadian flycatcher and eastern phoebe nest along the creek, and can often be seen sallying from their perches on tall sycamore, maple, or magnolia trees. Green heron is common along the creek banks, and occasionally, belted kingfisher hunts these waters as well. Butterflies flutter about the wildflowers in bloom on the banks of the creek. Look for dun, zabulon, and silver-spotted skippers, cabbage white, clouded sulphur, great spangled fritillary, and red-spotted purple. Dragon- and damselfly species to be expected are similar to those at East Gate Park, but due to the shadier creekside edges, Masons Mill Park is also home to ebony jewelwing.