BirdingWeek: Partridge Run WMA & Huyck Preserve

Partridge Run Wildlife Management Area is located in the Town of Berne in western Albany County. It consists off about 4500 acres of upland and wetland habitat. There are many places to park along the roads through the area, and trails to hike on. Partridge Run hosts a wide variety of wood warblers, thrushes, and flycatchers. Some of the best birding can be done along Kingfisher Rd., which dead-ends at Partridge Run Rd. along the Switzkill.

Switzkill at Partridge Run Rd. & Kingfisher Rd. (click to enlarge)

Eastern Wood-Pewee, Partridge Run WMA (click to enlarge)

male American Redstart, Kingfisher Rd. (click to enlarge)

Eastern Wood-Pewee, Kingfisher Rd. (click to enlarge)

Main parking area at Ravine Rd. and Sickle Hill Rd. (click to enlarge)

trail to Pickerel Pond, Partridge Run WMA (click to enlarge)

Pickerel Pond, Partridge Run WMA (click to enlarge)

beaver pond, Partridge Run WMA (click to enlarge)

Least Flycatcher at beaver pond (click to enlarge)

Wood Duck Pond, Partridge Run WMA (click to enlarge)

The Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve and Biological Research Station, located in the beautiful hill country southwest of Albany, N.Y., is a mecca for researchers, educators, and people seeking peace and serenity away from the pressures of modern life. The Preserve is part of a vast tract of land, or "wyck," established in 1629 by Kilian van Rensselaer through a charter from the Dutch West Indies Company and subdivided in 1785 by Stephen van Rensselaer, eighth patroon of the manor. Rensselaerville became a bustling village after the Revolutionary War. Edmund Niles Huyck, for whom the Preserve is named , was the son of the founder of a felt mill established at Rensselaerville in 1870. Its remains still are visible near the foot of the Rensselaerville Falls. After E.N. Huyck died in 1930, his widow, Jessie Van Antwerp Huyck, and other heirs established the Preserve. Above all else, this natural resource is a refuge for nature - a place to be left unspoiled and undeveloped. The original charter of the Preserve states that its purpose is "to preserve the natural beauty of the Rensselaerville Falls, Lake Myosotis, Lincoln Pond and the land around them...and to increase the general knowledge and love of nature." ** (http://www.huyckpreserve.org/about/history.htm)