Seneca Meadows announced today it is now accepting open photo submissions for inclusion in their 2022 SMI Community Calendar. Community members and preserve guests are encouraged to send their best shots of wetlands scenes, reptiles, birds and plant life taken from the Seneca Meadows Wetlands Preserve at 1712 Black Brook Road in Seneca Falls. Photographers have the opportunity to showcase the diversity of life and nature by capturing their favorite moments at the SMI wetlands preserve. Chosen photos will be included in the 2022 SMI Community Calendar that is distributed throughout Seneca Falls and Waterloo.
Photo submissions should be based upon the following categories:
Wetlands scenes
Reptiles
Birds
Plant life
Tips for a Successful Submission:
The larger, higher quality photo, the better – higher resolution, larger image dimensions, etc.
Up to four photos may be submitted.
The final date for submitting photos is October 25, 2021. The list of winners and their photos will be announced at the publication launch of the 2022 SMI Community Calendar.
For a complete list of the rules and submission process, please visit:
The wetlands complex took more than four years to develop, and the $8 million project restored meadows and forested wetlands. Nearly 200,000 native plants, trees and shrubs were planted. A team, including Applied Ecological Services Inc., specialists in ecological restoration, management, and research, designed and constructed the preserve. The result is an exciting educational and recreational wetlands preserve, complete with seven miles of hiking trails, open year round to the public. Fifteen years ago the preserve was a cornfield. Now it is a lush and diverse native plant habitat that has become a popular hiking and birding site. Through the special partnership with Audubon New York, Seneca Meadows has ensured that this environmental treasure will exist in perpetuity.
Seneca Meadows Wetlands Preserve was designated an Important Bird (IBA) area in 2014 by Audubon New York. The Important Bird Area program is an international bird conservation initiative with the significant goal of identifying the most important places for birds and conserving them. IBAs are identified according to standardized, scientific criteria through a collaborative effort among state, national, and international non-governmental conservation organizations, state and federal government agencies, local conservation groups, academics, grassroots environmentalists, and birders. The site met the IBA at-risk Criterion because of the number of breeding Pied-billed Grebe and American and Least Bittern. Some of the most abundant bird species that rely on Seneca Meadows are Common Merganser, American Black Duck, Mallard, Wood Duck, Great Blue Heron, Snow Geese, Northern Shoveler, Blue-winged Teal, Marsh Wren, Bobolink, Savannah Sparrow, Short-eared Owl (winter), Rough-legged Hawk (winter), Common Moorhen, Wilson’s Snipe and Northern Harrier.
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