Mendon Ponds Park
This park is great for hikers and birders. There are 10 established trails that take you into each eco-system: marsh, pond, field, woods. Each trail loop ranges from 1.5 to 4.5 miles and you can make combinations of loops for intermediate or long hikes.
Robins, Sparrows of several varieties, Chickadees in Spring and Fall, migrant waterfowl (ducks and geese), Wrens, Nuthatches, Vireos, Tanagers are regular visitors. You may also spot a Virginia Rail in the Fall or a Gray Catbird or Eastern Towhee in mid-winter.
Birdsong Trail is probably the all around best one for birding. Quaker Pond and Hundred Acre Pond are good for water fowl.
The park trails are noted for poison ivy and sumac and lots of mosquitoes in August and September, so come well prepared for those problems.
The park is open 7am to 11pm (4pm in winter) and it is free.
to get there:
take route 65 (Clover Street) to get at the west entrances to the park and route 251 to get to the east entrance and north side (via Cantrell Road).
There are many parking places both in the park and along the shoulder of the main highways.


1890s station (photo from P. Worboys, archive)
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